(Bloomberg) -- China’s youth employment advanced last month, the statistics bureau said, while still declining to publish the jobless rate after abruptly halting that data last month. 

“Youth employment showed a marked improvement in August,” said National Bureau of Statistics spokesman Fu Linghui, citing data from unspecified government departments and the NBS’s research. That indicated supportive measures for young people were gradually taking effect, he added at a briefing in Beijing on Friday. 

China unexpectedly paused publishing data on its soaring youth unemployment rate last month, saying it needed to iron out complexities in the numbers. The decision fanned growing investor fears about transparency in the world’s second-biggest economy. 

Fu said the National Bureau of Statistic would continue to conduct research on the methodology for collecting youth unemployment data, and release new information in a timely manner.

The jobless rate for people aged between 16 and 24 hit a record 21.3% in June, with the bureau indicating that figure for the next month would probably rise even higher. July’s rate still hasn’t been released.

Explaining the optimism for last month’s data, Fu said historically youth employment had improved in August. The government had previously said almost 12 million students from universities and colleges would graduate in 2023.  

Read more: China to Halt Youth Jobless Data After Unemployment Rate Soars

Youth unemployment has soared since last year. That’s a sign of a weakening economy as employers pull back on hiring — it’s also down to lingering effects from a crackdown on the technology sector, once a lucrative industry for many young people.

The move to halt releasing the data is the latest example of how President Xi Jinping’s government is reducing access to information it deems sensitive.

China has over the past year limited access to corporate data, court documents, academic journals and raided expert networks serving businesses, hampering investors’ ability to assess the economy. 

Officials have also been downplaying economic risks like deflation, with some Chinese-based analysts saying they were instructed by regulators and their companies not to discuss the matter publicly.

--With assistance from Lucille Liu, Yujing Liu, Nasreen Seria and Jill Disis.

(Updates with more details from second paragraph.)

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