The best general indicator of an economy’s health is the rate of employment and unemployment. China’s official unemployment statistics showed a tiny increase during the crisis from just 5.3 percent to 6 percent. But the unemployment insurance system covers only half of the urban workforce and a fifth of migrant workers. Despite the concerted effort to restart production, in March 2020, of the normal workforce of 174 million long-range migrants, only 129 million were at work.66 That implied a loss of at least 45 million jobs. Allowing for migrant workers not counted in the official data, the
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