Unemployment isn’t just a trend in America. Record highs will be reached in China’s tallies as youth unemployment has reached 23%, according to Bank of America.

Big cities are likely to see numbers as high as 7% and people aged 16-24 may see unemployment levels of 23% in July and August, according to Pi Xiaoqing and Helen Qiao, both major Chinese economists.

“The shock on [the] labor market appears deeper, broader and more long-lasting than that in 2020,” they wrote. That’s because “more industrial hubs are likely impacted during the peak production season, and sectors which picked up the job market slack back then are losing steam.”

The economist duo said.

Nationwide unemployment is expected to reach nearly 6.5% in the upcoming months. In April, it was sitting around 6.1% before slipping below 6% when Covid-zero restrictions ceased.

In 31 major cities, the unemployment rate hit record highs in April alone (6.7%). Shanghai was locked down and other major cities followed and youth unemployment reached a crazy 18.2%.

Read more on the different gauges to watch and just how bad the unemployment of China as a whole is HERE