The country's threadbare unemployment-insurance system covers less than half of the country's urban labor force and less than 20% of migrant workers. Stuck in a place surrounded by rice paddies and fish ponds, Mr. Yu is almost certainly not reflected in China's unemployment data, which don't capture many migrant workers because only urban residents are surveyed. The dataGetting a precise read on China's jobs situation has always been hard. They don't include migrant workers who were once employed in cities but returned home for various reasons. Mr. Li sighs when he talks about the fate of migrant workers like himself.

Source: Wall Street Journal June 07, 2020 20:03 UTC