China takes down economist's speech on youth unemployment pulling down country's economy

Internet censors have taken down a speech by prominent Chinese economist Gao Shanwen after he warned that a widespread lack of opportunities for young people was pulling down growth in the country, Radio Free Asia reported.

Today, young people in China are tightening their belts and "turning off the lights and eating noodles", instead of following promising careers and contributing their disposable income into the economy, Gao, a chief economist at SDIC Securities, said at an investor conference in Shenzhen on Tuesday.

“Turning off the lights and eating noodles” is a catchphrase used to describe someone who is down on their luck after failed investments in the stock market.

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Gao's statement went viral on social media and was considered insensitive enough to be removed from the "Economist Book Club" public account on WeChat.

The WeChat link where Gao's whole speech was posted, read on Wednesday, "This content is no longer available due to complaints of violations.”

Youth unemployment in China has been increasing, leaving millions of young people jobless, living at home, relying on delivery jobs, or as the trend says, "pretending to go to work".

Some of the workers in China, including both white-collar and blue-collar, have told Radio Free Asia that they are struggling, despite the state media being pressured to show the positive side of economic news.

Watch |China’s youth unemployment hits record

Gao further argued that areas with younger populations had seen worse economic performance since the ending of the zero-COVID policy in December 2022 than areas with older populations.

“The younger the population of a province, the slower the consumption growth; the older the population of a province, the faster the consumption growth,” Gao said, citing recent economic data.

“This conclusion is somewhat counterintuitive and is summarized ... in three sentences: vibrant older people, lifeless young people, and middle-aged people in despair,” he added.

He continued that many older people in China have pensions to rely on, whereas, young people are barely contributing to the economy at all.

“For the elderly, ... there will be no impact on their income, and they can continue to enjoy their twilight years and dance in public places,” Gao said.

“For young people, income expectations have been significantly revised downward, the certainty of income growth has been significantly revised downward,” he said. “They can’t find jobs, or the jobs they find are significantly different from their expectations.”

(With inputs from agencies)