China's economic recovery dragged down by property slump and weak consumption in July

BEIJING — A continued property crisis and weak consumption dragged on China’s economic recovery in July, according to data released Thursday by the National Bureau of Statistics.

Unemployment rose for the first time since February, clocking in at 5.2%, compared to 5% in June.

Industrial production also rose more slowly than the previous month, showing a 5.1% year-on-year increase in July, compared to a 5.3% rise in June.

Retail sales grew slightly more than analysts had expected, rising 2.7% year-on-year in July, compared to 2% in June.

Statistics bureau spokesperson Liu Aihua said the recovery in consumption will be further consolidated given recent government policies to boost consumer spending.

Beijing announced plans last month to use 150 billion yuan ($20.9 billion) in government debt to finance trade-ins for consumer goods such as appliances and cars to stimulate spending.

Consumption contributed around 60% of China’s economic growth in the first half of the year and is expected to assume an even bigger role in supporting the world’s second-largest economy. Exports, traditionally China’s strongest engine for economic growth, are dampened by frictions with the United States and other Western countries.

Regarding urban unemployment — a ticklish problem for the ruling Communist Party — Liu said the 0.2 percentage-point rise over the previous month was due to the impact of the graduation season.

Investment in real estate dropped 10.2% year-on-year in the first seven months of the year, after decreasing 10.1% in the January-June period.

A prolonged slump in China’s property market after regulators cracked down on excessive borrowing by developers unleashed a chain reaction that has pulled housing sales and prices lower and hit many other parts of the economy, such as construction, building materials and home appliances.