How to deal with high unemployment?

[toegut]

I have a lot of unemployed pops in some provinces (especially in China), they keep emigrating plus drive up the militancy because their needs are not fulfilled. Some are artisans which I guess is ok, because they should demote to craftsmen but I also have 2M unemployed farmers, mostly in grain and cattle RGOs. I was thinking if building and expanding more liquor and canned food factories will drive up demand for the outputs of these RGOs so that the farmers get jobs? I am thinking of doing a military-industrial stimulus, keep building more troops which uses liquor, keep their supply slider at 100% even in peacetime so that canned foods get bought etc. Does this work in the game as it does in real life?

 

[Amtep]

Yeah that does work in my experience, but I'm not sure you can ever consume enough to employ all of China. Your best bet may be to turn them into soldier pops.

Btw are they migrating to other countries, or to your own states where there are jobs? The latter is generally a good thing. Some players deliberately starve their farmers to get that effect. I would never condone such ruthless imperialism, of course.

 

[Kovax]

There is a maximum size to RGOs. and if you've got enough farmers to exceed that cap, they're going to remain unemployed no matter how high the demand for their produce rises. As said, they can either demote to soldiers or some other occupation, or else move to other provinces where there's work. One way to insure that there are places to move to is to take someone else's provinces where the population is lower, preferably one which produces something you don't already have. As an "unciv", such expansionist behavior will also benefit your country's development by gaining research points.