China jobs: graduates face ‘sluggish prospects’ and US$3,000 a year or a helping hand to US$40,000 plus bonuses
- A record 11.58 million university students will graduate in China this year, adding to a highly competitive job market that has seen youth unemployment hit new heights
- Students from non-elite universities are faced with added pressures as graduates from well-known institutions receive more help and higher salaries
When Beijing announced the end of its coronavirus control measures at the end of last year, 22-year old university student He Yu, along with her fellow medical testing majors, suddenly faced “collective unemployment”.
“When the nucleic acid test was cancelled, our job opportunities were cancelled along with it,” said He, who graduated from an non-elite medical school in central China’s Henan province last month.
Due to China’s strict zero-Covid policy over the past three years, huge volumes of testing had left He’s major in high demand.
But now only three of the 46 students in her class have found jobs that pay around 2,000 yuan (US$279) per month, which is less than half of the average monthly salary for a fresh graduate in China.
We felt hopeless at first, but now we have basically accepted the sluggish job prospects fact now
“We felt hopeless at first, but now we have basically accepted the sluggish job prospects fact now,” said He, who is now applying for a master’s degree programme.
