In recent days, the “2024 Misery Ranking” has been widely circulated on the internet, revealing a series of challenges facing the Chinese economy with no hope of recovery in sight. The collapse of the real estate market has left countless families burdened with debts, and the unemployment problems among middle-aged people, who are the main economic pillars of their families, have become more severe, leading them to lament their descent into the abyss. This year’s Misery Ranking has resonated, showing people’s worries and anxieties about the current economic predicament. Analysis indicates that the Chinese economy is disintegrating at an unimaginable speed. The Chinese Communist Party is willing to sacrifice the economy to maintain its grip on power.
Recently, the “2024 Misery Ranking” has been trending on mainland Chinese social media platform Weibo:
1⭐: Unemployment
2⭐: Unemployment + No savings
3⭐: Unemployment + No savings + Mortgage
4⭐: Unemployment + No savings + Mortgage + Raising children
5⭐: Unemployment + No savings + Mortgage + Raising children + Debt
6⭐: Unemployment + No savings + Mortgage + Raising children + Debt + Debt collection
7⭐: Unemployment + No savings + Mortgage + Raising children + Debt + Debt collection + Illness
8⭐: Unemployment + No savings + Mortgage + Raising children + Debt + Debt collection + Illness + Parents falling ill
9⭐: Unemployment + No savings + Mortgage + Raising children + Debt + Debt collection + Illness + Parents falling ill + Foreclosure
This Misery Ranking has struck a chord with netizens, with some even adding their own contributions.
“Go with the flow follower”: Ten stars is when nine stars + property prices drop by half.
“Xinyiguanbao”: Unemployment – No savings – No house – Raising children – Illness (Three out of five taking medication) – Debt – Debt collection.
“MOCO-P_Text”: Eleventh star is when ten stars + the property is halfway built.
“CHENG Chengtianfa”: All people in debt!
Some netizens expressed that they used to think not being able to find a job was already miserable, but after seeing the 2024 Misery Ranking, they realized that not finding a job was just the beginning of hardships, with only one star on the ranking.
On social media, many people are saying that this year is the best within the next ten years, with numerous netizens concurring and asking, “What can we do about this?”
Since 2000, the number of university graduates in China has been increasing year by year, with the growth rate getting larger. This has led to increasingly severe employment challenges in society.
The youth unemployment rate in China has remained consistently high and is climbing month by month. From January to June last year, the rates were 17.3%, 18.1%, 19.6%, 20.4%, 20.8%, and 21.3%. Since April last year, it has surpassed the 19.9% from July 2022, repeatedly hitting a new high since 2018.
Last August, the Chinese National Bureau of Statistics announced the discontinuation of publishing the unemployment rate for the 16-24 age group.
On January 17 of this year, official figures on youth employment were released – the average urban survey unemployment rate for the entire year was 5.2%, with the unemployment rates for 16-24-year-olds, 25-29-year-olds, and 30-59-year-olds (excluding students) being 14.9%, 6.1%, and 3.9% respectively. After statistical adjustments, these figures, first-time publicized by officials, indicate that the Chinese economy is still struggling to recover.
On March 18, the official announced that the national urban survey unemployment rate for February was 5.3%, a 0.1 percentage point increase from January.
On March 20, after revising the statistics method, the official released the (February) national urban youth unemployment rate, excluding students, for the age group of 16 to 24 years at 15.3%, up by 0.4% from the initial data release. Compared to the national urban unemployment rate of 5.3%, this further highlights the severity of youth unemployment.
Additionally, the national urban unemployment rate for the age group of 25 to 29, excluding students, was 6.4%, and for the age group of 30 to 59, excluding students, it was 4.2%. Both showing an increase from the previous data release.
Anhui’s self-media enthusiast “A Fu Dai” updates videos nearly every day, depicting the hardships of his and his family’s life. According to him, born in 1997, he graduated from college in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree. Despite majoring in finance, he did not pursue a career in the field after graduation. He has worked in sales and subsequent jobs unrelated to finance. Almost four years after graduation, he hasn’t saved any money and instead is burdened with debts.
On May 10, he disclosed his current state of unemployment, saying, “It’s been over a year without a fixed income. I rely on odd jobs every day to make ends meet. The pressure is immense daily, having to bear huge mortgage and car loans, raise children, and even taking out online loans. I really don’t know what to do; I feel like I’m falling into the abyss step by step. I have just over a hundred yuan on me right now, and it’s borrowed from an online loan. I really don’t know what to do.”
“I face immense pressure every day, work 15 hours daily just to barely sustain my life, but the money I earn is insufficient. My whole family relies on me alone to earn a living. It’s becoming unbearable! I’m also hesitant to ask for money from both sets of parents because their living expenses are minimal.”
He mentioned that his child is only a few months old, and his wife stays at home to take care of the baby. Raising a child is costly, spending over 6000 yuan this month. Expenses include formula, diapers, costing a couple thousand yuan, along with other baby furniture and necessities.
On the night of the 10th, he revealed, working from 8 am to 11 pm, he earned 500 yuan. Did not have a meal all day, stomach aching from hunger, he bought a 10 yuan fried noodles at the night market.
“I never expected earning money to be this challenging this year! Sometimes I need an extra hand while working, so I take my wife along to work, while my mother-in-law takes care of the child.”
He tried to find a stable job but with low pay, not comparing to earning more from odd jobs. Without buying a house, there wouldn’t be such financial pressure in raising a child. The pressure from the mortgage is too much, regrets buying a house.
The persistently high youth unemployment rate in China is not just a crisis for the young people but is affecting some seasoned professionals who have been in the workforce for years.
In Guangdong, software engineer “Xiao Liu” posted a video on May 6, mentioning that he has been unemployed for four months and two days. During his jobless period, he sent resumes to some Tencent subsidiary companies but didn’t pass the interviews. Following the Chinese New Year, he sent resumes to relevant companies in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Chengdu, acquiring interview opportunities, but failing in the first or second rounds.
By the end of March and April, the interview opportunities dwindled. “Even if you perform well, many companies have no follow-up after the chat, and many companies are looking for all-around technical talents contrary to the job requirements in their recruitment ads.”
On May 11, Xiao Liu shared another video, stating that being continuously unemployed for four to five months, he believes he needs to start off with short-term jobs, like working for three to four hours in the evenings or finding work after 4 or 5 PM, ensuring time for revising, submitting resumes, and attending interviews.
He advised against physical labor jobs like courier sorting, requiring commitment for over a month. The physical exhaustion from such work may hinder attending interviews, and if one works overnight, gets through an interview the next day, and has not completed a full month of sorting work, the employer might dodge paying the deserved wage.
Xiao Liu discussed his plan, expressing that five months of unemployment without finding a job suggests the software industry’s market conditions are unfavorable. He paid rent for the last month and if he doesn’t secure a job the following month, he plans to go back to his hometown and find work. “Let’s work first, enabling survival, cut down on expenses wherever unnecessary, saving the funds.”
Media reports widely highlight that the Chinese economy is facing at least eight major challenges: sluggish property market, weak consumer spending, tight money supply, soaring debts, declining working-age population, foreign capital withdrawal, trade barriers, and economic slowdown.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) recently reported on “China’s Economy Disintegrating at an Unimaginable Pace – What is Happening?” pointing out that the collapse of the Chinese real estate market has escalated into an implosion, with the stock market hitting its lowest point in five years, and international investors are abandoning the country.
The report notes that China’s economy is facing deflation. Consumer prices are declining, and if this issue isn’t resolved, it could lead to an unsightly negative feedback loop.
“This isn’t surprising, as even before the pandemic, it was the Chinese government’s policies that led to the economic downturn. What’s astonishing for observers and investors is that the Chinese government lacks the capability or willingness to address these issues and take remedial measures to alleviate the economic impact.”
In March of this year, Xu Chenggang, Senior Research Fellow at Stanford University’s China Economic and Institutions Research Center and a renowned economist, gave insights into the deteriorating state of the Chinese economy in an interview with China National Radio. He believes that the Chinese economy’s downturn is entirely due to the fear within the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of a “color revolution” externally and the concern for a “peaceful evolution” internally. Hence, the CCP is exerting all efforts to suppress private business, even at the expense of the economy, only to retain political power.