President Xi tells youth to "eat bitterness" and to value the suffering, while the youth struggle to find employment in a shrinking job market The Chinese economy continues to struggle in its recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic as a study reveals the nation hit a record high of 20.4 per cent unemployment rate in April. The statistics were announced just a month before 11.6 million students are getting ready to graduate from universities and vocational schools and enter the workforce, stated a report by ANI. This could mean one in every five people could be unemployed.