Most young people are scoring employment, however, they may not be getting the highest paying jobs or the jobs that are related to their field of study, as reported by CNBC in interviews with six students and recent grads. Zhang Chenggang, Director of a research center on new employment forms at the Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing, explained that the main cause for such high youth unemployment is inadequate demand from businesses. Despite the national unemployment rate in cities staying near 5% over the past three years, youth unemployment has consistently remained extremely high.
Young people in China are expressing feelings of difficulty when addressing the job market. Keeping anonymity in mind due to the sensitive nature of the topic, six students and alumni discussing this with CNBC all report they are ultimately finding employment, though not necessarily with ideal compensation or in the areas of their expertise. One Shanghai Jiao Tong University graduate, which is ranked within the top 3 in China and 89th globally, said classmates are sending out over 100 resumes in many cases, and some more than 200. Fortunately, this individual had applied to 80 positions prior to scoring three job offers, and will be starting work at Huawei this summer.
In June, the unemployment rate for people aged 16 to 24 in China set a new record of 21.3%. Zhang Chenggang, director of a research center for new employment forms at the Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing, attributed the high youth unemployment to a lack of demand from businesses. Under the current conditions of uncertainty, these companies are not willing to take on hiring and training young workers, according to Zhang. Despite the low official jobless rate of 5% in cities, youth unemployment has stayed high over the past three years.
In April 2020, the U.S. unemployment rate for people aged16 to 24 reached its highest level of 27.4%, as stated by U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Fortunately, this rate has decreased substantially to near 7% this year.A Chinese 2023 graduate revealed that her class was missing out on job chances as major online businesses were only appointing current students to internships that could potentially end up as a job. She also mentions that when she was still studying, the Covid-19 pandemic was still ongoing and she had not heard of such opportunities. The 2023 graduate expressed in Mandarin (translated by CNBC): “I feel like our employment [situation] is much harder.”
China's economic recovery from the pandemic has slowed down lately. Exports have dropped significantly. The expansive real estate industry has not yet recovered. According to a survey conducted among mostly private companies of the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business's alumni, employment plans have declined. The CKGSB recruitment index dropped to 54.2 in June, continuing the decrease from April's 64.6. The similar business poll executed by Caixin in May revealed a slight boost in the service sector when it came to requiring new hires. However, production businesses' recruitment plans hit the bottom since February 2020.
Despite the government's support for the well-known semiconductors sector, Zimri Sun, an Information and Communications Engineering student at Shanghai Jiao Tong University preparing to graduate in 2021, foresees that searching for a job will be difficult. He declared in a Mandarin translation from CNBC that the industry's "hot" growth period had concluded and was now in a period of stability. Despite this, Sun is firmly confident he will find a job, though he knows it won't be a straightforward process. Various pandemic-related and regulatory alterations have diminished the number of jobs available to newly graduated students in China, even though the 2023 graduating class set a record at 11.6 million.
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Zhang anticipates the rate of unemployment for young people to decrease by the end of the year once the summer graduation season is complete. He observed that since families in China are becoming more prosperous, more young people can take their time to prepare for higher education entrance exams and look for a job with better work-life balance. This might even prompt some inaction. “Every year, people state it's tough to secure a job. This year, folks appear more carefree," said another 2023 grad, as per a CNBC translation of the Mandarin, indicating recent global events have emphasized the impracticality of planning.
This year saw a record-breaking number of 7.7 million people apply to take a civil service exam in China in search of job security. Additionally, 4.7 million individuals registered for a postgraduate studies examination in December, again a new high. When Sirui Jiang was ready to graduate last year, she opted to apply for a master's program instead of taking up a job she wasn't interested in. "Today's times are especially tough for graduates due to their lack of experience, making it difficult for them to find employment in China, as well as elsewhere," she remarked. Jiang, who studied in Europe, noted that she made a concerted effort to showcase why her skills would be of value to a given company, something which students often are non-compliant with. She is now working from her hometown in China as a sci-tech engagement coordinator at GFI Consultancy, based in Shanghai and specialising in the alternative protein industry. —CNBC's Yulia Jiang contributed to this report.
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