China's youth unemployment rate dropped in September after hitting a seasonal high during the summer but remained elevated, underscoring the strains in the country's job market.

The jobless rate among 16- to 24-year-olds, excluding students, stood at 17.6% last month, down from the peak of 18.8% in August, when millions of college graduates entered the labor market, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics showed Tuesday.

That is in line with the trend indicated by figures released last week showing that overall headline unemployment stood at 5.1% in September, compared with August's 5.3%.

The job numbers came after the world's second-largest economy reported a 4.6% expansion in the July-September period from a year ago, which was slightly better than expected but still marked the slowest pace in six quarters.

China's statistics bureau had suspended the release of the youth jobless rate after the figure climbed to a record 21.3% last June. It resumed releasing the data in January but revised the methodology by excluding students enrolled in schools--a change economists say has made the gauge less credible.

With authorities pivoting to stimulating the economy in September after months of hesitation, economists are closely watching to see if Beijing's package of fiscal and monetary easing will soon warm up China's job market.

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