Health of labour market as unclear as ever

Investor scepticism about much of China’s economic data is deep-rooted and the unemployment figures have long been considered among the worst of the lot. So the release this week of a new, survey-based unemployment measure could have been an important step forward. But the new index shows only a little more movement than the old one: unemployment has been steady at 5%, give or take very little, throughout the past few years. There is nothing here to signal the cyclical health of the economy. For what it’s worth, our preferred labour market indicators point to conditions being healthy. The ratio of job openings to job seekers is at a record high and wage growth remains fairly rapid. But the lack of useful unemployment data creates a blind spot over an important part of China’s economy.