Fresh Chinese graduates battle job market; unemployment soars to 17.1 percent

The Communist of Party of China (CCP) under the rule of President Xi Jinping has taken some extreme measures to maneuver the country’s finance, tech and education sectors to suit its bill and to top that the COVID-led restrictions has taken its toll on the economy. In these uncertain times the fresh college pass outs in China are struggling hard to find a decent job as the unemployment soars.

The job market in China is in shambles. The newbies hunting for jobs are forced to settle for low-paying jobs or survive on their old parents’ savings, a sad state of affairs that has led to a creation of a generation of freeloaders in the society. And if this was not enough there are many jobless youngsters in China who have turned to crime.

As per a report published by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), The rate of joblessness for the roughly 100 million Chinese graduates between the age of 16 and 24 had risen to 20 percent first time in April 2023 and hit an all-time high to 21.3 percent in June 2023. Now, a year later in July unemployment rate has spiked once again to 17.1 percent. Among 25- to 29-year-olds, the unemployment rate stood at 6.5 percent for July, up from the previous month’s 6.4 percent. For the workforce as a whole, the unemployment rate was 5.2 percent.

However, the NBS date doesn’t present the real picture as its carters mostly to the urban areas of China.

These numbers are reflective of poor management by Xi Jinping’s regime to create enough jobs for the needy. But the signs of improvement of job market seems bleak as there are hardly any jobs for 11.70 million college students who have graduated this summer as the Chinese economy is still battling the real estate crisis and sluggish manufacturing sector.

China’s $19 trillion economy is under tremendous stress as with employers hesitant to hire amid present financial difficulties. With record number of students graduating this summer the job market has become even more competitive. Even remote rural jobs are attracting highly qualified candidates from top universities making it difficult for young job seekers to find employment. China has stopped publishing the data depicting the unemployment rate ever since the unemployment rate has gone haywire in the country. The current 17.1% unemployment rate in June this year is the highest since December 2023 and has broken the back of Chinese failing economy.

CCP has tried to manifest good practices amongst the big companies to prioritize local talent. Even President Xi Jinping is wary of the situation in the job market and has called for creating channels such as job fairs where employers can have direct access to unemployed youth. Even though the past policies and COVID-19 restrictions had done much harm to the economy but CCP is now stressing on rolling out supportive business policies to speed-up the hiring procedure.

China’s policymakers have introduced measures to try to lift confidence and boost youth employment, such as offering subsidies to encourage private-sector companies and state-owned enterprises to hire more, and pressuring colleges and universities to do more to help graduates get jobs.

But the fresh college graduates in China are realising fast that their high qualifications and top-notch degrees are no longer able to secure them a fat pay check and they have settle down for meagre jobs. With limited options and low expectations some of them are even agreeing to take up jobs that not even match their profiles. Even if the current generation of graduates secure a job they have survive toxic work environment and cater to unrealistic work expectation of their bosses.

The current situation of the job market has a historic inclination. In 1999, China had asked the universities to boost enrolment in order to create educated workforce, but the idea backfired when more youngsters entered the market equipped with degrees. This created a chaos in the job market in 2007 as supply of the graduates exceeded the job availability.

But the supply of graduates had kept exceeding jobs, with authorities expressing concern in 2007 over job availability, an issue that receded but never fully faded as more youth armed with degrees entered the market. The outlook is uncertain even when a student’s aligns with market needs.

According to a study published this year by China Higher Education Research, a journal under the education ministry, unemployment rate is soaring in 2024 and will go on worsening through 2037, after which the effects of falling fertility rates will kick in and that may slow down the unemployment rate. Also, the count of fresh college graduates will likely peak at around 18 million in 2034.