The fact that China is different from the rest of the world is clearly reflected by the nation’s unemployment figures. Currently, the Chinese economy is widely regarded to be slowing, and indeed, unemployment is higher, having increased from 4.04 to 4.05%. The average figure for unemployment in China is 4.13% (2002-15). Its record high was a whopping 4.3% in Q4 2003 – incredibly, unemployment in China was effectively unchanged during the worst of the global financial crisis.
Inflation in the People’s Republic of China is not so regimented, having peaked at 28.4% (1989) and fallen to -2.2% (1999), but it averaged 1.6% over the year ending in December 2015.
China has experienced phenomenal growth since the communist state started its flirtation with capitalism. The average GDP growth between 1978 and 2012 came in at 9.4%. China’s government projected growth of 7% for the nation in 2015. Figures just released suggest that this target was missed, but only just, with actual growth of 6.9%. This has been achieved against a backdrop of weak global demand, an apparently slowing economy and a major upheaval in China’s stock market last summer.
The 6.9% increase in GDP transpires to be the weakest growth that the nation has seen in 25 years. For comparison, the economy grew by 7.3% in 2014, so given the year-long warnings that the Chinese economy was slowing which were present throughout the year (and before, in fairness), the actual decline in GDP must be seen as quite modest. The value of China’s GDP in 2014 was estimated to be $18.1 trillion – the expansion seen in 2015 alone is said to be larger than the total economy of Switzerland, to put things in some kind of perspective.
There are some analysts who are sceptical about Chinese economic data and believe that the figures are overstated, of course. However, on the basis of the performance claimed for 2015, the current stock market turmoil in China and its knock-on effects around the world would seem to be an over-reaction.
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