Official latest unemployment data shows that the unemployment rate of non-students aged 16 to 24 in urban areas nationwide was 18.9% in August. Not only did it increase by 1.1 percentage points compared to July’s 17.8%, it also hit a new high since the adjustment of statistical caliber in December 2023. This means that approximately one out of every five young people is struggling on the brink of unemployment. And this is after excluding the embellished numbers following the exclusion of students. This year, Chinese university graduates increased by 430,000 compared to last year. This grim employment situation is evident.
This is not a short-term phenomenon. From April to June 2023, the youth unemployment rate had exceeded 20% for three consecutive months, reaching a historical record of 21.3% in June, forcing the authorities to urgently suspend data release. This sparked huge public backlash, claiming that the actual unemployment figures were even more alarming.
Even with the statistics becoming more “gentle,” the cold numbers still reveal the harsh reality of the job market, and this chill is rapidly spreading.
This year, the scale of Chinese university graduates is expected to reach a new high of 12.22 million, an increase of 430,000 from last year. This means that every graduation season, the already narrow job market has to accommodate millions of young faces. Countless individuals step out of campus full of hope, only to run into the harsh reality of “no work available.”
Positions such as food delivery, street vending, customer service, and catering, once considered temporary transitional jobs, have now become the only way out for many prestigious university graduates.
In this employment crisis, no one is spared. Even Ph.D. graduates from prestigious universities struggle to escape the fate of becoming unemployed. Recently, a 30-year-old humanities Ph.D. from Zhejiang University shared her experience of being unable to find a job online, and her despair resonated with millions of netizens who shared her story. Her plight proves that an impressive academic background no longer guarantees employment.
The BBC reported a story of a Tsinghua University graduate who, after a year of unsuccessful job hunting, was on the verge of a breakdown. She said, “Every morning I wake up afraid to check my phone, fearing another rejection email.”
The term “full-time children” has been coined in Chinese society for the high unemployment rate. These young individuals who are unemployed and stay at home are portrayed as warm companions to their parents, but the reality is that they are not unwilling to work; they simply cannot find suitable opportunities.
More absurdly, some universities have become accomplices in “beautifying” the data. A graduate from a Chinese media university once exposed that counselors at the school asked him to open a Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok) account and write “flexible employment” in the graduate destination form. Consequently, a income-less virtual account was counted as a “successful employment.” However, the reality is no income and no future.
Many of these so-called “flexible employed” individuals rely on their parents for financial support. Sociologists lament that this is a generation of “unfinished children,” much like those abandoned “unfinished buildings,” who after investing over a decade in education, end up deserted in the ruins of the market.
Unemployment is not just an economic figure; it represents the tears of countless families and the societal breakdown. Many parents express their grievances on social media: after sacrificing everything to send their children to college, dreaming of changing their fate, they only return home after graduation to be financially dependent on their parents. This puts the whole family’s finances in trouble.
Blogger “Talking in Private” points out that the difference between “unfinished children” and “unfinished buildings” is that “unfinished buildings” are just a pile of reinforced concrete, while “unfinished children” are living beings.
He notes that when young people are unemployed, the whole family gets dragged into this silent crisis – parents in the household get affected. Data shows that the per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents in China only increased by 3.5% in 2024, far below the average level of the past decade. Meanwhile, prices are rising, and costs of healthcare, housing, and education are continually increasing. In this context, an unemployed child at home often topples the entire family’s finances. Retirement savings that should have sustained basic living conditions for parents now have to be used to pay their children’s rent and social security. Many families are buried in debt and may even have to sell their only home.
The employment crisis is no longer limited to those under 25. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, the unemployment rate for non-students aged 25 to 29 in August rose to 7.2%. This signifies that the chill of unemployment is penetrating beyond the younger generation to a wider population.
“Talking in Private” states that the number of Chinese university graduates in 2025 is nearly 4 million more than in 2019. In just six years, the scale of graduates has soared, but there is no corresponding job market. China’s job market is like a sinking giant ship. Countless young people wave their hands desperately, but no one is reaching out to help.
A netizen from Beijing mentioned that a job in Beijing that used to pay 5,000 RMB per month has decreased to 2,000 RMB, and job seekers are left with no choice but to accept it or opt to “lie flat.” Thus, “lying flatism” has become the self-defense mechanism of a new generation who no longer believe that hard work can secure their future. This attitude change is fundamentally altering Chinese society.
Faced with such dire statistics, the Chinese Communist Party’s attitude continues to be about covering up and painting rosy pictures. “Talking in Private” points out that the authorities are consistently evading the real issue: China’s economic structure is no longer able to absorb such a vast labor force. What’s even more alarming is that the highly anticipated future industries like artificial intelligence, green energy, and electric vehicles are centralizing around automation. These seemingly glamorous industries are creating extremely limited job opportunities, if not reducing them. Sociologists emphasize that these shining industries make almost no contribution to the job market. This deepens the confusion and bewilderment of the young population.
He indicates that this employment crisis is not cyclical but structural. The severe misalignment between the education system and economic structure acts like a bottomless black hole, consuming generation after generation of young people. This winter of unemployment will not end in the short term; it may last for several years or longer.