The Chinese labor market is becoming increasingly tough for young people, with many finding positions that do not pay well or match their study fields. The unemployment rate for China’s youth aged 16-24 hit new heights of 21.3% in June, mainly due to a lack of demand from enterprises. Corporations are concerned about the future, making them unwilling to hire new staff, who often require training.
Youth unemployment has been consistently high over the past three years, even while the overall unemployment rate for city inhabitants has been much lower, at about 5% according to Chinese Premier Li Qiang. The unemployment rate for those between the ages of 16 and 24 in the US reached its highest point of 27.4% in April 2020 before falling to about 7% this year. One 2023 graduate in China stated that her class was passed over for career prospects because the huge internet corporations were only searching for current students (not graduates) to begin internships that may lead to full-time employment.
China’s economic rebound from the pandemic has slowed in recent months, with exports falling steadily and the massive real estate sector still struggling. According to a monthly survey of mostly non-owned businesses run by alumni of the Beijing- based Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, hiring plans have fallen. A similar business survey for May by Caixin found a slight increase in the service sector’s demand for workers, but manufacturers’ hiring plans fell to the lowest level since February 2020.
Competition everywhere is getting harder, even in the government-supported, popular industry of semiconductors. The “hot” period of expansion has passed and the industry is settling, said Zimri Sun, Who is starting his job search this summer ahead of graduating from his master’s program next year.
Jia Zhang, was running a small business six months ago. Now, she spends time with her folks and goes shopping with them, receiving 8,000 yuan ($1,115) each month from her parents. On Chinese social media sites, the hashtags #FullTimeDaughter and #FullTimeSon have been trending, gaining millions of views. Youth unemployment has been a major problem as China’s economy recovers from three years of “Zero-covid” restraints.
Many full-time youngsters, including Zhang, have shared their stories on social media. More than 4,000 individuals have convened on Douban, an IMDb-like site that allows users to join communities similar to Facebook groups, to talk about becoming full-time parents. Some full-time children fall into it unintentionally as they procrastinate while looking for work or pursuing further degrees. Cici Gong, 24, jokingly refers to herself as a “full-time daughter” after living rent-free at her parents’ house for three years and failing China’s demanding postgraduate admission test each year. Many of the career paths that were previously popular among China’s young people have been discontinued as a result of the outbreak and administrative changes in some areas. Every year, the graduating class reaches a new high, with approximately 11.6 million students in the class of 2023. Zhang anticipates that the youth unemployment rate will fall by the end of the year, following the summer graduation season.
The question of whether providing full-time child care qualifies as work has come up in recent years. According to Lu Xi, an associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, young people who are now unemployed and have stayed at home to study for exams have more confidence in their test-taking and job-hunting skills. The rise of children working full time is being “rationalized” and ''glorified” by some government media channels in China as “filial piety. ” Even with the beautifications,”the core population still has no employment.”
In China, where a record 7.7 million applicants passed the civil service test this year, more than 4.7 million students applied for the postgraduate exam in December. Last month, urban unemployment among those aged 16 to 24 rose to 21.3%, slowing China’s post-pandemic recovery. Despite the fact that the country’s GDP only expanded by 0.8% in the preceding three months, there is still reason to be optimistic about future economic development. Although China’s GDP increased by 6.3% year on year in the second quarter, concerns regarding the expansion of local government debt have escalated due to the global economic downturn.
With a record 11.8 million university graduates scheduled to enter the Chinese labor market this year, youth employment is being constantly scrutinized. For some months, the urban youth unemployment rate has been rising due to reasons such as a mismatch between what graduates were educated to perform and the opportunities that are now accessible. Authorities have conceded that teenage unemployment will most likely climb further in the next few months, peaking around August. Unemployed young people account for just 1.4% of the potential workforce in China’s cities. China began publishing statistics on youth unemployment in 2018, although it does not yet give data on young people’s employment conditions in rural areas.
To sum up, with the unemployment rate for young people aged 16 to 24 reaching 21.3% in June, the Chinese labor market is experiencing problems for this demographic. This is a result of a lack of business demand and future concerns. Exports are falling and the real estate sector is struggling, which has slowed China’s post-pandemic economic rebound. Although competition is escalating, the government-backed semiconductor industry is stabilizing. The employment of young people is under examination, and 11.58 million college graduates are anticipated to enter the workforce this year. Social media has seen a rise in the number of full-time kids sharing their stories, with some claiming that in China, full time-childcare is seen as a sign of “filial piety”. The youthful unemployment rate is anticipated to decline by the end of the year after the summer graduation season.
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