“You land a job yet?” aka the most dreaded question awaiting Chinese college grads in July. Because, in China, this sultry summer month is when fresh graduates leave behind the security blanket that is campus life and venture out into the real world–of work life. The prospect of trying to secure employment in China’s glum professional landscape breathing down their necks sees many a young forehead sport beads of sweat glistening like pearls under the blazing sun. The latest aesthetic?Misery.
Urban youth unemployment in China is currently at record levels, already up to 20.8% in May, according to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics.
This year saw a record 11.58 million students graduate from college in China, 820,000 more than last year. According to the country’s National Bureau of Statistics, as of this May, more than 33 million people aged 16 to 24 had entered the job market, 18% of whom had not yet secured a position. Urban youth unemployment in China is currently at record levels, already up to 20.8% in May, according to the bureau.
The massive influx of almost 12 million new job seekers has only poured more fuel on the fire of fierce competition. Just to illustrate the job-hunting situation from a young perspective: China’s youth unemployment is so dire that it’s even inspired recent college grads to post pictures of themselves sprawled on the ground in “zombie-style” poses. In recent weeks, Chinese social media has become awash with such tongue-in-cheek images.
The latest Gen Z aesthetic: misery. China’s youth unemployment is so dire that it’s even inspired recent college grads to post pictures of themselves sprawled on the ground–“zombie-style.” This young woman is striking such a pose for her related post on Chinese Instagram slash e-commerce platform 小红书 ( xiǎohóngshū| Little Red Book in Chinese)
Aside from dwindling demand for staff in the country’s private sector, which accounts for 80% of jobs nationwide, due to a continuous overhaul of the sector, a sluggish economic recovery isn’t doing fresh grads any favors either. Among the industries hardest hit are tech and education, two sectors that would normally attract large graduate intakes. All this makes for a depressing picture for students, many of whom already feel exhausted and discouraged after navigating China’s notoriously competitive education system to reach this point–with little to show for it.
According to a survey on the employability of college students by Chinese online recruitment platform Zhaopin Ltd., conducted from mid-March to mid-April, this year’s proportion of college grads choosing to take a gap year–traveling (temple tours are still hot like burning incense) or working part-time or just conking out— had already increased from last year’s 15.9% to 18.9%. In short, employment prospects of young applicants are looking bleak.
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From July to December, the country’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security is trying to go the extra mile to help out young job hunters, from fresh college grads to registered unemployed young people (i.e., jobseekers aged 16-24). The past two months have seen Beijing organize more than 200 on- and offline job fairs; in southeast China’s Fujian Province, college graduates will receive subsidies if they sign a one-year, or longer, work contract with micro, small or medium enterprises (MSMEs) and these employers in turn will also be rewarded subsidies for absorbing new graduates; in Anji County of Zhejiang Province, college grads are entitled to favorable policies, think cheap shared workspace, to start up their own business.
China’s pandemic-related lockdowns–which the country’s residents have banned from collective memory, believe you me–in previous years are partly to blame for the ultracompetitive environment young jobseekers find themselves engulfed by today. Severe measures to contain the coronavirus from 2020 to 2022 landed numerous MSMEs in hot water. Many had to lay off staff to reduce operating costs and some even had to close up shop altogether. As major employers of young people, the downsizing and even collapsing of MSMEs, and particularly of those in the service sector, have further squeezed job opportunities.
The scrapping of COVID-related restrictions in late 2022 and early 2023 did revive said enterprises to some degree, but they do still need some time to grow to the point where they need, and can actually afford, new employees.
Plus, youth unemployment exacerbates other pressing issues. China’s rapidly aging population requires a sufficient number of young workers to support the needs of the country’s senior population. Economic struggles have caused many young people to delay starting families, compounding demographic challenges. Stagnating wages, limited upward mobility, unaffordable housing and rising living costs only further fuel frustration…
“As I see so many fresh grads struggling out there, I’ve decided that after I wrap up my master’s in English and Spanish next year, I’m gonna go abroad for six months or one year to see what’s out there, travel or even do an internship there, lift my language level, and so on,” a Beijing Language and Culture University student surnamed Li told this Temper author when she visited said campus to give a speech — yes, I am that interesting, #wink — in early June. “But doing so is still super expensive right now, so I’ve started saving up already,” she added. Preparation, as they say, is half the battle.
Staff members at a human resources service company introduce jobs online during a livestream broadcast in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province, in April. Image via China Daily
Then there’s the discrepancy between young professional abilities and job expectations that has also led to high urban youth unemployment. Then there are those grads moving from internship to internship because companies simply aren’t hiring because they no longer have the budget to do so. Then there are those recent grads who did make it past the internship phase and secured fulltime employment but eventually became the first batch of people to be laid off when the going got tough, because they’d just joined the company and hadn’t made much contribution or left much of an impression. Then there are the job hoppers for whom, should they proceed to do so without caution, this “swift role-switching” often results in temporary unemployment given the grave and grim picture of China’s current professional landscape.
The question now becomes: How to deal with such a dismal market? For now, governments at different levels, from central to local–the country’s pyramid of power stands tall, y’all– are trying to keep rolling out targeted events and measures to help those in need secure employment sooner rather than later. And perhaps the phenomenon of livestream recruitment, too, can lend a helping hand.
Recruitment through livestreaming and short-video platforms like Douyin, China’s TikTok, and BiliBili, a major Chinese streaming platform mainly targeting Gen Zs, has become a new way for job hunters to apply for jobs–and for companies to cast a wider net when targeting their desired talent pool. In October 2020, for example, BiliBili launched a livestream recruitment program called “Campus Recruitment Express” to connect students and recent graduates with potential employers.
Editor’s note: Known for its “order with one click” feature, Chinese tech titan Alibaba’s shopping Walhalla Taobao mobile app is taking the same approach to help fresh grads find employment through its newly launched “Taobao Offer” venue, Dao Insights on July 13 reported.
To access the platform, users can simply search for “job vacancy” or “graduation job search” on Taobao. Once on platform, they can explore available job positions, upload their resumes and submit applications, all with just a single click.
Hey, you never fail until you stop trying, right?
But… Feisty college grads on the hunt for the perfect position on their part may have to downsize the list of demands in their quest for “perfection” and stand ready to sink their teeth into a “proper” position at the drop of a graduation cap.
It’s July, and the heat of the job hunt is on.
THIS IS A HEAVILY EDITED, BASICALLY REWRITTEN VERSION OF AN ARTICLE FIRST PUBLISHED IN BEIJING REVIEW, VOL 66, NO. 28 (JULY 13, 2023)
FEATURED IMAGE: LITTLE RED BOOK SCREENSHOT TAKEN BY THE AUTHOR
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Perpetually in pursuit of the greater good that is “China Fashion”, van Paridon set up The China Temper to help promote the dynamite dynamic fashion scene sprouting within Beijing, Shanghai, and China overall. Catering to anybody and everybody who reads English and/or Chinese, Temper covers all the basics and bases. From China's street style scenery to its budding photographers, internationally renowned designers, and underground quirks plus phenomena: We present one hot-hip-happening current collective weaving The New "Made in China" tag.
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