Alibaba Group Holding’s e-commerce arm in China is hiring more than 2,000 graduates amid record youth unemployment, and as authorities eased their regulatory crackdown on technology platforms.

Taotian Group, the unit which includes Taobao and Tmall, is recruiting the graduates for a range of roles including design, product and data, according to a post on its official recruitment WeChat account on Thursday (Aug 17). The jobs will be based in at least six Chinese cities such as Hangzhou and Shanghai.

China suspended publishing data on its soaring youth unemployment rate in July, saying it needed to iron out complexities in the numbers. The rate had risen every month this year and reached a record 21.3% in June. 

The youth unemployment rate usually jumps in summer as tens of millions of graduates hit the labour market, with 12 million students expected to graduate from universities and colleges in 2023, according to the Ministry of Education.

The Chinese government extended an olive branch to big tech, after probes into companies such as Alibaba and Tencent Holdings ended in July with the imposition of massive fines. Premier Li Qiang has met with senior executives from Alibaba and other internet firms such as Bytedance Ltd and JD.com Inc, and vowed to provide more support for the industry through creating a fair environment and reduce compliance cost.

  - Bloomberg