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Fading job prospects discourage younger Chinese workers

May 17, 2023
China's job market remains competitive as the economy recovers from zero-COVID. But some young people have lost their eagerness to compete.
Students at a job fair in Beijing last year. Unemployment among graduates has remained stubbornly high even though China has dismantled its zero-COVID policy.
Jade Gao/AFP via Getty Images

G-7 leaders expected to discuss China's "economic coercion"

May 15, 2023
China has been accused of exerting its power by refusing to buy certain products from countries that cross it. Beijing is pushing back.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden at a G-20 summit. China rejects criticism of its trade practices and has accused wealthy nations of using economic and military coercion.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Boosting chip production is “an investment in America’s national security,” Commerce secretary says

Apr 25, 2023
“The stakes are so high” when it comes to making the U.S. a leader in this key technology, says Gina Raimondo.
“The stakes are so high” when it comes to making the U.S. a leader in semiconductors, says Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Why global investors ask: Where's Jack Ma?

Apr 24, 2023
For over two years, the whereabouts of one of China’s leading tech moguls has generated intense interest from the media and global investors. But is it warranted?
Jack Ma at a startup fair in Paris in 2019. Since China's crackdown on tech moguls in 2020, Ma has largely kept a low profile.
Phillipe Lopez/AFP via Getty Images

How undersea internet cables connect the global economy

The U.S. and China are competing for control over these vital pieces of infrastructure.
Technicians work on undersea cable in December 2005. Undersea internet cables "carry about 99% of all our telecommunications," said James Kraska at the U.S. Naval War College.
Stephan Agostini/AFP via Getty Images

Why more workers in China are ruling out factory jobs

Apr 17, 2023
Despite high unemployment among young people, most factories are short of workers. It might reflect false promises and poor conditions.
Production in progress at a factory in China's eastern Anhui province. Factory work has lost much of its popularity as a career choice. “The workers just don't trust factory owners,” one former employee said.
STR/AFP via Getty Images

"Made in America" policy can actually hurt the U.S., economist says

Adam Posen agrees with the goals of boosting green energy and keeping China at bay. But he says protectionism won't achieve them.
One example of industrial policy is subsidies for companies doing work in clean energy, like the kind that the Inflation Reduction Act provides.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

For public good, not for profit.

Shanghai lockdown a year on: Is it still the same financial hub?

Mar 27, 2023
Shanghai's 2022 lockdown, which lasted two months, left economic and psychological scars on the metropolis.
A view of Lujiazui, the financial district of Shanghai. Government media refers to the cluster of high-rises as the Manhattan of the East.
Jennifer Pak/Marketplace

Why are women in China not having more babies?

Mar 17, 2023
In China, each woman went from having about three children in the late 1970s to now one. Decades later, the Chinese government wants women to have three children again but is meeting resistance.
A woman holding a baby girl lines up for a PCR COVID test in Shanghai in 2022. Birth rates continued to fall during China's strict zero-COVID policy during the pandemic.
Charles Zhang/Marketplace

Russian oil prices are climbing — here's why

Mar 9, 2023
Small independent processors in China are being joined by larger Chinese refiners, driving prices higher.
Since the start of war in Ukraine, Russia has shifted some crude exports to markets in Asia, like India, Turkey and China. Above,  an oil refinery near Moscow.
Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images