China is facing a twin economic challenge: an aging population and young people who are unable to find work but are expected to support them
“Youth unemployment is a more pressing issue than the aging population,” says Keju Jin, an associate professor at the London School of Economics and author of. “The 1.1% annual reduction in the labor force doesn’t compare to the fact that the most productive and highly-educated generation cannot find jobs.”
The crisis has led to an outpouring of sardonic grumblings on Chinese social media and the inevitable pushback from officials. In March, the Communist Youth League urged young Chinese to “take off their suits, roll up their sleeves, and go to the farmland,” while Chinese President Xi Jinping weighed in bynew graduates must “eat bitterness,” a colloquial expression for stoically enduring hardships.
It certainly leaves a sour taste for a Confucian society that invests huge sums in education in the firm belief that it’s the surest path to success. “My parents don’t want me to work in their factory,” says Lu. “I have a master’s degree, they want me to work in an office or as a teacher.” Youth joblessness reinforces growing discontent over a lack of social mobility in China. Office workers especially in the tech industry are expected to toil for long hours in what’s dubbed “996”—9am to 9pm, six days a week—with no overtime and paltry leave entitlements. It’s contributed to a phenomenon known as “,” where young workers become so disillusioned by their torpid career advancement that they simply do the bare minimum just to keep getting paid.
Policy blunders have exacerbated the problem. In 2021, the government suddenly banned for-profit tutoring, wiping out a $150 billion industry as well as a key revenue stream that allowed young graduates to support themselves while looking for work more attuned to their chosen careers.
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