China's ultra-strict COVID-19 curbs are taking a toll on businesses and jobseekers as Beijing stresses again and again the need to maintain its zero-tolerance approach to the virus, to save lives, if not livelihoods.
A medical worker in a protective suit collects a swab from a resident for nucleic acid testing, following the coronavirus disease outbreak in Shanghai, China October 13, 2022. REUTERS/Aly Song
"Since the epidemic I've become anxious, flustered and lost, and then the bars started to close down one by one," said Cai, who in 2016 gave up his job as an architect at a state-owned enterprise to open his first establishment. In January-March, China's economy barely grew as authorities battled with the highly transmissible Omicron variant. In April, the urban jobless rate hit 6.1%, its highest since February 2020. In July, unemployment among those aged between 16 and 24 reached a record 19.9%.
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