China’s economy is on a downward trend, and the issue of unemployment among the population is becoming increasingly serious. Recently, a netizen named Zhang (pseudonym) posted on social media that she and a total of 41 candidates had gone through written tests, interviews, physical examinations, and inspections before being hired at the Disease Prevention and Control Center in RuZhou City, Henan Province. However, just over four months after starting the job, they were informed orally by the unit’s leadership that their employment was terminated. The news has sparked concerns online.
According to Zhang’s statement to Xinhua News on August 15th, in 2022, the RuZhou City Talent Exchange Center website (which is under the RuZhou City Human Resources and Social Security Bureau) issued a recruitment announcement for staff at the Disease Prevention and Control Center.
The announcement mentioned that “all personnel recruited in this round are employees of budgeted public institutions. The probation period for newly employed personnel is 12 months, while for other employees, it is 3 months.”
After going through written tests, interviews, physical examinations, and inspections, Zhang and the other 41 candidates were listed as prospective employees on February 1, 2024.
However, just over four months into the job, on June 16, “the unit’s leadership suddenly informed us orally that the exam was invalidated, it didn’t count, and asked us to leave immediately after signing a voluntary resignation report,” Zhang said. They refused to sign, but upon returning to work, they found their workstations had been taken by unknown individuals.
Regarding the reasons for the dismissal, another person involved, Mr. Yang, told Zhongyuan News Network that the person in charge said, “During the recruitment exam, there were violations in the leadership process. He said we were not at fault, but we were still implicated.”
Zhang stated that all 41 of them have been dismissed. They have requested the relevant departments to provide documents and announcements regarding the invalidation of the exam and the dismissals, but have not received any response so far.
According to Xinhua News, two official documents provided by Zhang show that the Disease Prevention and Control Center and the Health and Family Planning Commission of RuZhou City had previously processed the entry procedures for the 41 recruited personnel for the 2022 recruitment in late February of this year.
“In accordance with the original recruitment announcement, we thought we could become regular employees after the 3-month probation period, but after 3 months, we were met with this kind of ending,” Zhang said.
The group of 41 newly hired staff includes 13 social candidates and 28 candidates from non-regular positions at the Disease Prevention and Control Center in RuZhou City.
Some netizens have mentioned that among these 41 individuals, “it is said that some have even quit their previous jobs.”
In response to this, a staff member from the RuZhou City Government Office mentioned that they are only aware of the dismissals but are not clear about the specific reasons. A staff member from the Pingdingshan City Human Resources and Social Security Bureau stated that there may have been some issues with the personnel recruited by RuZhou.
The news has sparked discussions online. According to netizens, Disease Control falls under a certain type of public institution that receives full funding. However, due to tight finances, they are having trouble paying salaries. “I have a friend in RuZhou’s public institution who hasn’t received a single penny in salary for a year, and all social insurance benefits have been cut off. This means you have to work to earn, but your pay may never come. After not receiving pay for a year, they had to take up side jobs like selling things on the streets.”
With China’s economy declining and local government finances deteriorating, recent college graduates are struggling to find employment. Over the past year, public servants across China have faced pay cuts, and public institutions are clearing “non-staff members.” In early August, Shandong Province initiated the transformation of state-owned public institutions into enterprises, transferring existing staff to new state-owned enterprises or private companies as contract workers.
One netizen disclosed, “To prevent incidents like this, the police are still paying salaries regularly, but the amount has decreased significantly.”
Commentator Li Lin Yi previously told Epoch Times that the authorities are likely to allocate more financial resources to expanding the personnel expenses of stability maintenance departments, such as various levels of “social work” institutions at the local level, as well as surveillance departments implementing recent initiatives on online monitoring.