A “rare” delay in China’s third-quarter GDP

China’s statistics bureau abruptly postponed the release of third-quarter data on Tuesday, without giving a reason.
The move is rare because the data were released on time despite such poor growth in the first quarter of 2020 (6.8 per cent contraction) and the second quarter of this year (0.4 per cent growth).

And in the second quarter of the economy almost stagnated, the performance of the third quarter exactly how the outside world is concerned.

A poor second quarter left China with growth of just 2.5% in the first half of the year, leaving it with a target of more than 8% in the second half to meet its full-year target.

If growth in the third quarter was only 3.5% or so, there is little hope that it will be recouped in the fourth quarter.
Economic growth did not reach 5.5 percent in the first three quarters, and the economy still faces considerable challenges in the fourth quarter amid the challenges of the pandemic and the global economic slowdown, Xu said.
“The 5.5 per cent target has been effectively watered down and the focus has shifted from pursuing growth targets to avoiding a stall or even recession in the second half of the year.” Xu Tianchen said.

Xu Tianchen believes that the persistent imbalance between different economic sectors in China has increased during the pandemic, among which residents and private enterprises have been very vulnerable in recent years, which has become a problem affecting the sustainability of China’s economic growth and long-term competitiveness, and needs to be addressed in the next five years.

To make matters worse, according to statistics from China’s Ministry of Education, the number of college graduates in 2022 is expected to reach 10.76 million, an increase of 1.67 million year on year, a record high in both scale and increment. In the economic downturn years, but encountered a large number of labor into the job market, so that the employment pressure increased sharply.
In China’s official context, “ensuring employment” is often emphasized because underemployment means social instability.