China's Labor Problem: Youth Unemployment || Peter Zeihan

Today's new factoid is that youth unemployment in China is higher than in Italy (in percentage terms). And if China's unemployment resembles Italy's, it is a very, very bad sign. Let's break this down in the context of manufacturing.

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#unemployment #china #economy #youth

[protokore]

"I cant say this is the end, but this is how ends begin."

What a quote.

[johngardner]

Mr. Zeihan I absolutely love your videos and watch each one the day of release. My one and only recommendation is to get a small microphone with a wind cover. I love the beautiful hiking locations you go to, but often times the wind will go over the internal microphone's volume threshold and audio will cut out entirely here and there. Thank you much and I love your videos!!

[jeffreyhill]

A friend of mine noticed a strange issue while visiting China. The one child policy has created an ultra entitlement attitude among the youth. They were all only childs and their parents had invested heavily in their success. These young adults had an unwarranted level of worth, and high expectations from others, but not motivated in themselves

[ericfleet]

Seems really hard to believe that China would have a youth unemployment problem at the same time that they are having such a drop in young people as a percentage of the total population. But I guess the same thing is true in Italy.

[tomfuller]

Saw a report that Mexico has now replaced China as the USA’s main trading partner. It also said imports from China have dropped 10%.

[osea]

These videos also serve as a useful day-by-day insight to future students of history

[Stealth]

As someone who knew this about China's failure in free-thinking and creativity years ago, they really haven't improved much. They struggle on some of the most basic tasks if it's not something you can just easily memorize. Same with their military, I have a few friends who served and it's a shitshow. Looks great when presented to other nations, but internal strife, lack of organization and leadership is a huge problem for them. They'll get steamrolled in any halfway decent conflict no problem.

[ericstaib]

Thanks for doing these daily, Mr Zeihan. I enjoy these as part of the morning routine at work with breakfast.

[topsuperseven]

Ok, I said this around 10 years ago. We just had a sudden onslaught of nearly every Chinese student qualifying for a university somewhere. Most Anglosphere and Europeans would be shocked at how lazy it really is. Do not blame them, pity them, they go through hell on earth for 12 years and almost die for that Gaokao (national uni entrance exams) and they cross the gates of their new campus like a marathon runner crosses the finish lines - almost slumping to the ground.. they made it. Don't blame them but they do shockingly little but dick around and play phone games for the next 3-5 years.
Now, not unlike Western nations, there is a stunning 65% or more graduating with diplomas in 'landscape design' and it turns out nowhere on earth are 7.5 million 'designers' required.
As noted in this video: A huge problem is that the leftover 7.4 million landscape designers CANNOT think of some way to 'translate skills' or invent some new uses think of reinventing into a niche demand etc. Oh no, they will just stand still, lay down and eat bitterness waiting for something to happen.
I've warned Mainland Chinese that they'd better smarten up because Vietnam is going to eat their lunch and dinner. Vietnamese are the near opposite: they wake up thinking "What hustle and new game can I come up with today!?" and "how can I add sugar to this Bitter Melon and sell it to a tourist for $2 USD?". A Vietnamese kid found some twigs and made a 'Vietnam War Bamboo Trap Diorama' and I got into a bidding war with another foreigner to buy it from him.
Chinese stand there and 'eat bitterness' and it's not their fault but they have no sense of how to 'invent a new thing' or translate skills or bounce and dodge and they can only think "so.. we wait and see what the government does".
This is exactly how 'the end starts'.

[billpetersen]

Another related aspect. We recently visited Taiwan. The people are grounded and polite. They seem to have a connection with their past, and a cultural depth. The Mao era, didn’t tear apart their culture. Leaving them in a state of shock, for dictatorship, to demean them.
After, my wife went to her home town of Beijing, for a month. She was appalled, at her old friends. They had no souls. The conversation was always around, food, possessions, and money.
She did exclaim, that the Taiwanese were much nicer, than the Chinese. A high trust society.
Taiwan is the hope, for China’s future.
As an example.

[xorbodude]

Could you put a datestamp in your videos? Some people copy your content so it can be tricky to know when they are from.

[tubepass]

I was in china last week and your description is accurate, the 20/30 will work in a 7/11 or KFC before going to a manufacturing job. They are totally ignorant of anything not Chinese, it’s sad

[louisgiokas]

Your pronouncements on China have been spot on. I follow a number of news and analysis sources on China, and it is like watching your predictions come true in real-time. It is at least the beginning of the end, but I think it might be more advanced. There is nothing that works in China, and no way to fix it in the current system.

[fredjacobs]

And of course, the unemployed are even less likely to have children, exacerbating the crashing demographics.

[RTD]

Wonderful Line! “ this is not the end, but this is how THE END Begins”! … Beautiful

[DougMcCluskey]

Dude! Love your channel and PLEASE! Buy a mic for your phone to record when you're outside! This one wasn't too bad, but some of your previous vids outside, the audio was dodgy!
Keep the updates coming!

[Balin]

I had a GIS professor from China who was at Tianemmen Square. He believed that the leadership would soon get old and die off, and that the next revolution will lead to freedom and free enterprise. I’m disappointed that his prediction hasn’t come true … yet?

Question: how does the Chinese system end? And what replaces it?

[aklimar]

A friend of mine started a mask factory in the US back in 2020. Now he is building different types of factories in the US for Chinese businesses who want to offshore their labor for the exact reason Peter is talking about here. That and the Chinese owners want to diversify their assets out of China (gee, I wonder why?)

[nicholasroux]

I feel bad for the Chinese people, not the govt.

[erwindouwes]

Honest to god i've been to Colorado twice, if the State had sponsored you to do these hotspots in the background earlier, i would've wanted to see them all! They should sponsor you! Also great substance on the China issue, looking forward to hearing you live whenever you might be in Europe.