After three years of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chinese economy has weakened significantly, leading to waves of layoffs and unemployment across various industries. Many laid-off employees and recent college graduates struggling to find work have been caught in the tide of unemployment.
According to a report by Taiwan’s Central News Agency on February 14th, Guangwei, a 33-year-old (alias), was once a mid-level manager at a graphic design company in Beijing. Before the pandemic, his monthly income reached as high as 25,000 yuan (RMB). However, as the economy continued to falter post-pandemic, his company closed its doors before the Chinese New Year in 2025, leaving him jobless.
Initially, Guangwei managed to sustain himself by taking on design projects wherever he could, but as projects dwindled and competition increased, he resorted to becoming a livestreamer. In the middle of last year, in order to save on rent of a few thousand yuan per month, he made the tough decision to move back to his hometown in Shandong from Beijing.
To his dismay, Guangwei found the parks in his hometown in Shandong teeming with livestreamers. Any spacious and well-lit corner in the park always seemed to have livestream hosts set up.
Guangwei admitted that livestreaming was a tough battleground. After returning to his hometown for nearly half a year, his average monthly income was less than 2,500 yuan, with one month bringing in just over 1,000 yuan. Apart from joining the ranks of the unemployed and livestreamers, he also felt like a burden to his parents, becoming part of the “stay-at-home” army.
However, the unemployment of young people has also taken a toll on their parents. Uncle Deng (alias) from a hutong in Xicheng District, Beijing, expressed his distress as his daughter was laid off in the second half of 2024 and remained jobless for over a year. Despite scrimping and saving, he and his wife had dedicated almost all their resources to nurturing their only daughter.
Deng’s daughter holds a master’s degree and used to work as a junior manager in a Sino-foreign joint venture. However, the company decided to downsize, leaving her in the lurch. Over the past year, she sent out over a hundred resumes but only received a response from one company offering a monthly salary of 3,300 yuan, nearly equivalent to what she used to earn before being laid off.
Deng also mentioned that many of his neighbors, friends, and his daughter’s close friends have faced unemployment over the past two years. For instance, a family living across the street had their child graduate from university in 2022, but the company shut down only six months into their job, leaving them unable to find their ideal job for three years. They spend their days at home either playing mobile games or binge-watching dramas and reading novels, leaving their parents heartbroken and helpless.
He lamented that many children of neighbors, friends, and family were in similar situations, which explains why young people in China nowadays are reluctant to get married.