Young and out of a job in China: how Covid-19 is creating an unemployment crisis

Youth unemployment rate rose from 15.3 per cent in January to 19.9 per cent in July as a record 10 million university graduates entered the job market

Amid the ‘lying flat’ movement and pessimism among youth, President Xi pledges a fairer environment for everyone to take part in China’s rejuvenation

Reading Time:5 minutes

China’s high youth unemployment rate can be attributed to the nation’s draconian Covid-19 control measures and a record number of university graduates entering the job market. Illustration Henry Wong

Published: 12:00pm, 30 Aug 2022Updated: 9:12am, 31 Aug 2022

A high school dropout, David Tong was sent to the US by his parents and learned to play freestyle football. He returned to Beijing before the coronavirus pandemic erupted at the end of 2019.

At the age of 21, after failing to find a job in China in the niche field of doing tricks with a football, he joined a gym as a fitness coach. Three years later, he lost that job.

“The business was on and off under Covid control measures,” Tong said. “I was not surprised to be sacked after the manager hinted several times the club had to cut costs.

“When the moment came last month, my brain went blank. After all, it was my first full-time job. Seconds later, the first thought coming to my mind was, ‘what am I gonna tell my parents’. They would take it terribly.”

02:30

Millions of China’s fresh graduates enter bleak job market

It took weeks for his parents to absorb the news. To a large part, Tong said, they were soothed by the fact that many young people – relatives, neighbours and the children of their friends were also out of work, as the Covid-19 pandemic and China’s stringent curbs disrupted business operations and took a toll on the economy.

“I told them it’s a universal thing,” Tong said. “In the end, they stopped blaming me and calling me a loser. And I gave my word to keep looking for a job. So far, I have not found one.”