CNN wrote that China has an employment problem because the jobless rate for 16 to 24 year olds in urban areas hit 21.3% last month, a record high.
When read uncritically this sounds pretty bad, and CNN relies on the fact that the readers will not analyze this statement further. Let’s take a look at how absurd the argument in the article actually is.
First, why are they counting from 16 years old. I realize that child labour is being normalized in US right now, but in civilized countries kids don’t work and they go to school. A serious unemployment statistic wouldn’t include children.
Second, the article presents this as an abnormal situation, but is it actually.What is the situation like in Europe for example?
https://www.statista.com/statistics/613670/youth-unemployment-rates-in-europe/
Turns out that it’s pretty comparable, yet we don’t see CNN writing sensational articles about a youth unemployment crisis in Europe.
To sum up, CNN created a story out of whole cloth that relies on the readers not being curious enough to read it critically.
This is what much of reporting in western media looks like. Yet, a lot of people genuinely think that the media they consume is factual and unbiased allowing it to shape their views of the world.
"Mentally and psychologically, people in mainland China are still recovering from the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Fang Xu, a continuing lecturer at the University of California Berkeley.
“I believe the desire to spend quality [time] with your loved ones, the contemplation about the meaning of life or what is the most important things in life still lingers,” she said.
I’m sorry are we so traumatized that we think spending time with loved ones is bad now?
