Rising unemployment in China is pushing millions of college graduates into difficult circumstances, some of whom are forced to accept low-paying jobs or even rely on their parents’ pensions, a plight that has created a new working class of “rotten kids.”
The phrase has become a topic of discussion on social media this year, drawing a parallel to the catchword “rotten-tail buildings” used for the millions of unfinished homes that have been hurting China’s economy since 2021.
This year, a record number of college graduates are looking for jobs in a labor market strained by disruptions caused by Covid-19 as well as regulatory crackdowns on the nation’s finance, technology and education sectors.
The unemployment rate for about 100 million Chinese young people aged 16-24 rose above 20% for the first time in April last year. When it hit an all-time high of 21.3% in June 2023, authorities abruptly suspended the data series to reevaluate how the numbers were compiled.
A year later, youth unemployment remains a headache, with the reset jobless rate hitting a 2024 high of 17.1% in July, while 11.79 million college students graduated this summer while the economy is still weighed down by its real estate crisis.
President Xi Jinping has repeatedly stressed that finding jobs for young people remains a top priority. The government has called for more channels such as job fairs for young people to reach potential employers, and has introduced supportive business policies to help boost recruitment.
“For many Chinese college graduates, better job prospects, social mobility, a brighter life outlook — all the things once promised by a college degree — are becoming increasingly elusive,” said Yun Zhou, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Michigan.
Some unemployed youths have returned to their hometowns to become “full-time children”, relying on their parents’ retirement pensions and savings.
Even people with postgraduate degrees have not been spared.
After spending years climbing China’s highly competitive educational ladder, “rotten kids” are finding that their qualifications are failing to get them jobs in a dismal economy.
Their options are limited. They either lower their expectations of high-paying jobs or find any job they can find to make ends meet. Some have even turned to crime.
Zephyr Cao received her master’s degree from the prestigious China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing last year.
Now 27, Mr. Cao is back in his home province of Hebei and has stopped looking for a full-time job because lower-than-expected pay has led him to question the value of his education.
“If I worked for three or four years after graduation, my salary would probably be the same as what I get now after a master’s degree,” Mr. Cao said.
Mr Cao said he is considering pursuing a PhD, hoping his prospects will improve in a few years.
Amada Chen, a recent graduate from Hubei University of Chinese Medicine, quit her sales job at a state-owned enterprise last week after just one month.
He blamed a toxic work culture and his boss’s unrealistic expectations for his decision.
During the first 15 days of his probation, he was earning just 60 yuan ($8.40) despite working 12 hours a day.
“I cried every day for a week,” she said.
Ms Chen wanted to become a quality inspector or researcher, a job she felt would match her skills specialising in traditional Chinese medicine.
But after more than 130 job applications, he was mostly offered positions related to sales or e-commerce.
Chen said she was reconsidering her career path and might turn to modelling.
uncertain outlook
Unemployment among college graduates is nothing new.
In 1999, China dramatically expanded university enrollment capacity in order to produce a better-educated workforce to fuel its rapidly growing economy.
But the supply of graduates continues to exceed jobs, and officials expressed concern in 2007 about job availability, an issue that has diminished, but not entirely disappeared, as the number of young people with degrees has increased in the market.
Even when the student’s subject is in line with the market needs, the scenario remains uncertain.
Shou Chen completed his third year of artificial intelligence major at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications this year.
However, after more than a dozen applications, Ms. Chen has yet to find an internship, and she remains pessimistic about the job market.
“It could get worse. Eventually, there will be more people (in the area),” he said.
The supply of higher education students will exceed demand from 2024 to 2037, after which the effect of declining fertility rates will kick in and the gap will narrow rapidly, according to a study published in June by China Higher Education Research, a journal under the Ministry of Education.
According to the study, the number of new college graduates will reach nearly 18 million in 2034.