In China, the difficulty for university graduates to find jobs has become an undeniable reality in recent years, with the situation growing increasingly dire. Data analysis from The Economist suggests that the plight of graduates may be far worse than previously imagined, with estimates indicating that over a third of young graduates may currently be unemployed.
Each year at this time, major companies visit Chinese university campuses to scout potential employees. This year, the situation is particularly grim, with a viral post on social media detailing a recruitment event in Wuhan where a company was offering a monthly salary of only 1,000 yuan (approximately 140 dollars) for management trainees who were elite graduates.
A soon-to-be graduate shared that at a recruitment event in Jilin, most positions available required advanced degrees. Another netizen expressed frustration at companies not hiring, labeling the recruitment process as a “lie.”
Beyond recruitment events, the employment data of young people in China paints a bleak picture. The youth unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 24 skyrocketed to a record high of 21.3% in June 2023, meaning that nearly one in five young people was unemployed. The authorities reacted to this embarrassing statistic by suspending the publication of this group’s unemployment rate and recalibrating the calculation method to exclude young people searching for jobs while in school (a practice considered in the US, UK, and many other countries’ unemployment rate calculations).
Even with the new algorithm, the youth unemployment rate remained dishearteningly high at 15.3% in March. The Economist suggests that for young graduates, the situation may be even more severe. While specific data on this group’s unemployment rate has not been made public by the Chinese government, estimates based on census data from China’s once-in-a-decade population census show that the youth unemployment rate for 16 to 24-year-olds with university education in 2020 was 25.2%, 1.8 times the overall youth unemployment rate at that time. If this proportionality still holds true today, over a third of young graduates may be unemployed.
Further analysis by The Economist indicates that the unemployment situation for graduates after 2020 has not improved. China’s sluggish economy has led many companies to downsize. On one hand, the demand for graduates has stagnated, while on the other hand, the supply of graduates continues to rise. In 2020, there were 8.74 million graduates from Chinese universities, a number expected to reach nearly 12 million in 2024, representing a 2% increase from 2023.
Unable to secure jobs matching their qualifications, many graduates are forced to take on low-skilled jobs such as delivering food. Last year, a memorandum from an airport in Wenzhou noted that they had hired architects and engineers as ground staff and bird control officers.
Faced with harsh realities, many graduates opt to attend vocational schools to acquire specific skills and technical certifications. According to a report by First Financial on January 21, Guangdong Lingnan Vocational and Technical College has admitted over 150 graduates with university degrees or higher in the past two years, with majors in fields like psychological counselor, public nutritionist, and health manager.
With the operational landscape for businesses becoming increasingly challenging, some graduates who do manage to secure jobs often find themselves unemployed again soon after. A user on Weibo lamented, “I’m 29 years old. Since graduating, I’ve been laid off three times. Now, even when I indicate on my resume that I’m unmarried and childless, no one replies.”
责任编辑: 林妍#