Youth Unemployment Raised Post-Covid In China

When the COVID-19 outbreak drove Wang Wei to close his tourist firm, he invested his 80,000 yuan ($11,785) life savings in selling coffee from the back of his green Suzuki mini van in the Chinese capital Beijing. Wang has been driving his mobile coffee booth from car boot sale to car boot market since June, providing hand-brewed coffee steeped in a variety of liqueurs.

Peddling items on the street, formerly considered too low-status for many, is making a comeback as individuals who have lost their jobs or closed down their enterprises look for new methods to make a livelihood and work around China's anti-COVID rules. Hospitality, tourism, and after-school tutoring have been especially difficult. 

Wang, 40, gave up a physical coffee business in Tianjin in 2020, when the virus first struck. That year, a profitable trip to view the aurora borealis was cancelled, costing him hundreds of thousands of yuan in missed revenue. The spread of the Omicron strain throughout China this year was the final nail in the coffin, rendering his group visits to the Chinese wilderness unfeasible.

Wang began operating his mobile coffee shop this summer, following the rise of car boot sales in major southern cities such as Chengdu, Chongqing, and Guangzhou. Customers sit on camping chairs under a canopy stretching from Wang's van, with gentle lights in the evening completing the glamping experience. "The growing popularity of this vehicle boot sale market has helped me get through the most difficult of times," said Wang, who estimates he makes around 1,000 yuan every day.

In April-June, China's economy barely expanded. The percentage of youth unemployment has remained high, hitting a record 19.9% in July, the fourth month in a row.