With record youth unemployment, China’s jobs market is getting tougher for new graduates to crack

BEIJING
—
Ask
young
people
about
the
Chinese
job
market,
and
the
frequent
answer
is
things
are
more
difficult
this
year.

Most
people
are
ultimately
getting
jobs,
but
ones
that
might
not
pay
the
best
or
match
their
area
of
study,
according
to
CNBC
interviews
with
six
students
and
recent
graduates.
Many
requested
anonymity
since
youth
unemployment
can
be
a
sensitive
topic
in
China,
especially
for
those
in
the
middle
of
a
job
search
or
just
starting
a
career.

The
job
market
can
be
so
tough
that
one
student
from
a
top
university
told
CNBC
his
classmates
are
sending
out
at
least
100
resumes,
if
not
more.

“Some
classmates
have
sent
out
more
than
200,”
the
student
said,
noting
he
felt
fortunate
having
applied
to
80
positions
before
getting
three
job
offers.
He
just
graduated
from
Shanghai
Jiao
Tong
University
and
is
set
to
start
work
at
Huawei
later
this
summer.
Shanghai
Jiao
Tong
University
is

ranked
third
in
China,
and
89th
globally,
according
to
U.S.
News
and
World
Report
rankings.

The
unemployment
rate
for
China’s
young
people
ages
16
to
24
climbed
to
a

new
record
high
in
June
of
21.3%.

The
primary
reason
for
high
youth
unemployment
is
insufficient
demand
from
businesses,
said
Zhang
Chenggang,
director
of
a
research
center
for
new
employment
forms
at
the
Capital
University
of
Economics
and
Business
in
Beijing.

Businesses
aren’t
certain
about
the
future
right
now,
making
them
reluctant
to
hire
young
workers
—
who
typically
need
to
be
trained,
regardless
of
the
education
system,
Zhang
said.

Youth
unemployment
has
remained
persistently
high
over
the
last
three
years,
while
the
overall
jobless
rate
for
people
in
cities
has
officially
stayed
far
lower,
near
5%.

In
the
U.S.,
the
unemployment
rate
for
people

ages
16
to
24
hit
a
high
of
27.4%
in
April
2020,
before
falling
to
near
7%
this
year,
according
to
U.S.
Bureau
of
Labor
Statistics
data.

One
2023
graduate
in
China
said
her
class
missed
out
on
job
opportunities
because
large
internet
companies
were
only
looking
for
current
students
(not
graduates)
to
begin
internships
that
might
turn
into
jobs.
In
contrast,
she
said
that
when
she
was
still
a
student,
the
pandemic
was
still
ongoing
and
she
had
not
heard
of
such
opportunities.

“I
feel
like
our
employment
[situation]
is
much
harder,”
she
said
in
Mandarin,
translated
by
CNBC.

China’s
economic
rebound
from
the
pandemic
has
slowed
in
recent
months.
Exports
have
fallen
steadily.
The
massive

real
estate
sector
has
yet
to
turn
around.

Hiring
plans
have
fallen,
according
to
a
monthly
survey
of
mostly
non-state-owned
businesses
run
by
alumni
of
the
Beijing-based
Cheung
Kong
Graduate
School
of
Business.
The
CKGSB
recruitment
index
fell
to
54.2
in
June,
continuing
a
drop
from
64.6
in
April.

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
since
February
2020.

Even
in
the
government-supported,
popular
industry
of
semiconductors,
the
job
search
is
getting
harder.

The
“hot”
period
of
expansion
has
passed
and
the
industry
is
in
a
period
of
settling,
said
Zimri
Sun,
who
is
starting
his
job
search
this
summer
ahead
of
graduating
from
his
master’s
program
next
year.
That’s according
to
a
CNBC
translation
of
his
Mandarin-language
remarks.

Sun
is
studying
information
and
communication
engineering
at
Shanghai
Jiao
Tong
University.
He
said
he’s
confident
he
will
find
a
job,
but
knows
the
process
will
be
hard.

For
some
fields,
the
pandemic
and

regulatory
changes
have
eliminated
many
of
the
jobs
once
popular
among
young
people
in
China
—
while
the
annual
graduating
class
has
swelled
to
record
highs.
The
class
of
2023
had

nearly
11.6
million
students,
according
to
official
estimates.

Zhang
expects
the
unemployment
rate
for
young
people
to
drop
toward
the
end
of
the
year,
after
the
summer
graduation
season.

He
noted
that
since
many
families
in
China
have
become
more
affluent,
more
young
people
can
also
afford
to
take
their
time
to
prepare
for
higher
education
exams
and
find
a
job
with
work-life
balance.

For
some,
the
situation
may
even
prompt
inaction.

“Every
year
people
say
it’s
hard
to
find
a
job.
This
year,
people
are
more
relaxed,”
another
2023
graduate
said,
noting
recent
world
events
have
demonstrated
the
futility
of
planning.
That’s
according
to
a
CNBC
translation
of
the
Mandarin.

In
a
broader
search
for
job
stability,
a

record
7.7
million
people
took
the
civil
service
exam
in
China
this
year.
More
than
4.7
million
people
registered
for
an
annual
postgraduate
studies
exam
in
December,

a
new
record,
according
to
state
media.

When
Sirui
Jiang
was
about
to
graduate
last
year,
she
said
she
applied
for
another
master’s
program
as
she’d
rather
pursue
that
than
a
job
she
didn’t
want.

“These
years
are
really
challenging,
especially
for
the
newly
graduated
students,
because
we
don’t
have
experience
and
it’s
quite
hard
for
us
to
find
jobs
not
only
in
China
but
all
over
the
world,”
she
said.

Jiang,
who
studied
abroad
in
Europe,
said
she
focused
on
making
her
resumes
show
why
she
was
a
fit
for
a
company
—
something
she
said
students
didn’t
always
do
well.

She
now
works
remotely
from
her
hometown
in
China
as
a
sci-tech
engagement
coordinator
at
GFI
Consultancy,
a
Shanghai-based
firm
focused
on
the
alternative
protein
industry.

—
CNBC’s
Yulia
Jiang
contributed
to
this
report.