MISMATCH IN CHINA’S JOB MARKET
The significant surge in colleague graduates contributes towards an imbalance between supply and demand in China’s job market.
Regulatory tightening on segments of the economy since 2021 has had a negative impact on youth employment, such as those on the platform sector, for-profit tutoring, and video-gaming.
There has been growing interest to join the public sector through civil service exams, indicating a changing preference for government jobs and a loosening labour market. Indeed, the number of persons aged 35 and below registered for the civil service exam rose from 1.4 million in 2019 to 2.5 million in 2023.
Beyond the above, social change also plays a role in China’s youth employment.
Facing the weakening economy and contracting job market, some Chinese youth have adopted passive lifestyles. They may choose to lie flat (tang ping), let it rot (bai lan), or become full-time children to live with and take care of their parents. Concurrently, some may make efforts to seek employment, take up part-time jobs, or undergo career training.
As these trends become the norm in Chinese cities, there may be more social tolerance for young people who opt out of the competitive job market or the ladder towards professional success. At present, however, the precise impact of such gradual societal changes on youth unemployment is hard to estimate.
GOVERNMENT RESPONSES TO YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT
Responding to rising youth unemployment, the Chinese government has taken new measures such as providing job opening information online and on-site, training programmes for job-hunting and one-time subsidies to companies that employ new graduates.
Authorities are also promoting self-employment by easing regulations. Some cities, such as Shenzhen, Lanzhou and Hangzhou, have permitted street vendors and hawkers, once banned because they were considered unsightly, to operate in certain areas.