Chinese Youth Facing Unemployment Issues – By Reuters

By Laurie Chen

BEIJING (Reuters) – After leaving the education sector last August due to government restrictions on private tutoring, He Ajun has reinvented herself as an unemployment influencer.

The 32-year-old vlogger from Guangzhou shares career advice with her 8,400 followers, chronicling her experience with long-term unemployment. In a post last December, she reflected, “Unemployed at 31, not a single thing accomplished.”

Currently, He earns approximately 5,000 yuan (about $700) each month from advertising on her videos, content editing, private consultations, and selling crafts at local markets.

“I believe freelancing will become the norm in the future,” she stated. “Even if you have a traditional job, freelancing skills will be essential. I think it will serve as a backup skill, much like driving.”

In China, authorities are urged to harness “new productive forces,” focusing mainly on specific areas of science and technology such as AI and robotics. However, critics point out that this has resulted in weak demand in other industries and risks leaving behind a well-educated generation of young people who graduated too late to benefit from the previous economic boom.

This year, a record 11.79 million university graduates are confronting a challenging job market characterized by significant layoffs in sectors such as finance, alongside job cuts at companies like Tesla, IBM, and ByteDance.

Among the roughly 100 million Chinese aged 16-24, urban youth unemployment surged to 17.1% in July, a figure that likely underreports the true extent of unemployment, particularly in rural areas. China ceased public reporting of youth jobless data after it reached a record high of 21.3% in June 2023, later revising the criteria to exclude current students.

More than 200 million individuals are engaged in the gig economy, a sector that also faces overcapacity issues. Several cities in China have raised alarms about an oversaturation of ride-hailing services this year.

Job cuts have even affected government roles, which traditionally offered stable, lifetime employment. Last year, Beijing announced a 5% reduction in workforce, leading to thousands of layoffs, including 5,600 job cuts in Henan province and nearly 10,000 in Shandong province since 2022.

Experts note that China’s 3.9 million vocational college graduates are generally prepared for low-end manufacturing and service roles, and reforms initiated in 2022 may take years to address the historical underinvestment in vocational training, which has been viewed as inferior to university education.

In March, the human resources minister highlighted a shortage of welders, joiners, elder caregivers, and "highly-skilled digital talent."

Sociologist Yao Lu from Columbia University estimates that about 25% of college graduates aged 23-35 are currently employed in roles that do not match their academic qualifications. Many of China’s nearly 48 million university students are likely to experience low starting salaries and contribute minimally to tax revenues over their lifetimes, according to a Chinese economist who wished to remain anonymous due to the topic’s sensitivity.

"While they may not be labeled a ‘lost generation,’ there is significant waste of human potential," the economist remarked.

‘DOING THREE PEOPLE’S JOBS’

In May, President Xi Jinping urged that job creation for new graduates be prioritized. However, the sentiments among younger workers who are unemployed or recently displaced are generally pessimistic, as reported by several individuals interviewed.

Anna Wang, 23, resigned from her state bank position in Shenzhen due to high stress and frequent unpaid overtime, expressing that she felt she was “doing three people’s jobs” for a salary of around 6,000 yuan. Her former coworkers have also voiced concerns about widespread pay cuts and forced transfers to roles with unmanageable workloads, effectively pushing them to resign. Wang is now working part-time as a CV writer and mystery shopper.

During a briefing for foreign diplomats regarding an economic meeting, policymakers reportedly encouraged companies to halt layoffs, according to an attendee.

Olivia Lin, 30, departed her civil service job in July following bonus cuts and hints of more layoffs. This year, four district-level bureaus in her city of Shenzhen have been dissolved. “The prevailing sentiment is that the current conditions are unfavorable, and fiscal pressures are high,” she noted.

Currently seeking a tech job, Lin has received no interview invitations after a month of job hunting, a stark contrast to 2021 when she had daily interview opportunities.

REDUCED STIGMA

Feeling excluded from the job market and wishing to find a connection, many young Chinese are sharing strategies for coping with long-term unemployment. Related hashtags have collectively garnered 2.1 billion views on the platform He utilizes.

Users recount daily routines, track the number of days since their layoff, share awkward conversations with supervisors, or offer advice, often accompanied by emotional selfies.

The growing visibility of unemployed youth contributes to increased social acceptance and diminishes the stigma attached to being jobless, according to Lu, allowing isolated individuals to connect and potentially redefine unemployment in today’s economic landscape.

Lu noted that unemployed graduates recognize that attributing their situation to government policies is both risky and unproductive. Instead, they often fall into a mindset of internal discontent or adopt a "lying flat" lifestyle.

He, the influencer, believes graduates should temper their expectations.

“If we have indeed entered ‘garbage time,’ I suggest that young people focus on skill development or creative endeavors, such as selling items through social media or crafting.”