Commentary: Disillusioned and dealing with unemployment, it’s difficult being a young graduate student in China right now

In the last 28 yrs, the number of positions available in the state civil program has increased 64 times, while the number of apps for these positions has increased 482 times. In 2021, the number of people sitting the civil service examination surpassed 2 million the first time in history.

This is the reverse associated with trends seen 20 years ago, where graduates were discarding dreams of a career in the public service for the promise of a lucrative career in the growing private and entrepreneurial industries.

Behind the surge of Municipal Service Fever is situated a drop in white-collar career self-confidence, leading many to find the stability of the career within the govt sector. The pandemic has increased uncertainty for your middle classes and survey data demonstrates there is concern greater than a quarter of white-collar workers feel depressed about receiving campaigns or salary improves in the future.

Even though the practice of pressuring of workers to work from 9am till 9pm for 6 days a week – referred to as 996 in China – has been prohibited , the proportion of white-collar workers who have experienced these working hours has increased instead of decreased in recent years.

A RE-EVALUATION OF WHAT’S IMPORTANT WITHIN WORKING LIFE

Chinese international students returning to China to begin their career are usually faced with a host of brand new challenges in this new context. International graduates are re-entering a changed China – a labour marketplace with different recruitment designs and priorities, brand new skills needs and fierce competition for top level jobs.

Simultaneously, studying during the outbreak may have led Chinese students to have transformed their perspective about what they are looking for in the job and their own career ambitions.

Returning international learners are increasingly looking for jobs that are interesting to them, that have a great work-life balance, offer opportunities for profession development and a much better commute time.