Is China About To Face An Employment Crisis?

Passengers check in at Nanchang Railway Station in Nanchang, capital of east China Jiangxi Province. Photo: Xinhua

CNBC: Chinese unemployment worries are growing as Beijing beefs up stimulus

* The greatest risk to China's growth in the near term is rising unemployment around the Lunar New Year, J.P. Morgan's chief China economist, Haibin Zhu, says in a Monday report.
* Job losses in manufacturing accelerated in mid-2018, after the U.S. imposed tariffs on Chinese goods, points out Gavekal Dragonomics China Consumer Analyst Ernan Cui.
* However, ManpowerGroup's first-quarter employment outlook survey indicates the overall labor market may be at least stabilizing.

Beijing is working hard to stop a slowing Chinese economy from hitting its workforce.

In the last several weeks authorities have made a flurry of announcements, including tax cuts, monetary policy loosening and plans to support public spending. The push comes as economic data points to sagging domestic growth and the U.S. looks set to keep up the pressure on trade. Amid that environment, worries of widespread job losses won't help the already gloomy sentiment that's giving consumers a second thought on spending.

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WNU Editor: Millions of Chinese are employed to manufacture products to foreign markets, and the U.S. is a major customer of these goods. The problem is that the Chinese government and its planners have programmed their policies and forecasts on the expectation that China's trade deficit will continue to grow with the U.S. to finance these jobs. Hence the visit in two weeks of this top Chinese official to Washington to discuss trade .... Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He to hold trade talks in Washington on January 30-31 (SCMP). Unfortunately I do not expect China accommodating President Trump's desire to lower the trade deficit, and from what my Chinese sources are telling me, they expect the U.S. to accommodate them.