At the September 15 press conference of the State Council Information Office, the National Bureau of Statistics announced that the average urban surveyed unemployment rate for January to August nationwide was 5.2%, with the August monthly rate at 5.3% and a month‑on‑month increase of 0.1 percentage point. The authorities described the employment situation as overall stable, prompting netizens to mock and question statistical rules such as the exclusion of flexible employment from unemployment counts.