China’s 11 million university students at risk of losing their jobs – recent graduate to EPN: Pressure gnaws at mental health

BEIJING Zhang Biaolle, 22, and millions of other university students were told that life would be easy after the university entrance exam. Now, on the eve of graduation, the belief has been revealed to be false.

– In high school, teachers said that just by studying hard and getting into a good university, you can take it easy and expect a good-paying job, Zhang tells in a video interview.

He made more than 50 applications before the job was found, and the reason for the tangled job search is clear: a record nearly 11 million students will graduate from Chinese universities this spring. They will have to compete with those who lost their jobs in the crunch of previous corona years.

Zhang sent applications to China’s famous techno-waste: Alibaba, Tencent, Bytedance, and smaller startups, but there was mostly silence in the face.

– The work situation is not good at all. Recruitment has stopped in all my internships. I know the contracts of those selected for work last fall will probably not be extended, Zhang says.

It was easy to get depressed under all the pressures of life, study and job search.

Zhang Biao

Techno giants have been a major employer of young people and pay has been good. Now they are also planning a reduction of up to 15 percent in the workforce, Reuters says.

During his last internship at Tencent, Zhang noticed that a part-time internship was lurking for young people who were much more educated and had studied abroad.

He says the pressure has been too hard at times.

– It’s been emotional for the last couple of months. It was easy to get depressed under all the pressures of life, study and job search.

This is how students describe their expectations of the future for :

Students have been isolated on campus due to corona restrictions.

Zhang’s roommates had stayed in their homes after the New Year’s holiday when students’ movement from campus began to be restricted due to the spread of corona infections.

He wrote his master’s degree alone in his room. He participated in online job interviews.

– Loneliness was demanding for my mental health. Mostly I just ate and slept in our dorm. I didn’t have any relaxing things to do, and I didn’t work out, Zhang recalls.

Anyway, young people graduating from universities want more today than their parents, whose generation spun a Chinese stroller into a world export factory on a conveyor belt.

Zhang uses the term “lie flat,” a country long. It has become a trendy term to describe the young generation in China who want to break free from the high-speed squirrel wheel, or at least want more than just skating at work.

– I don’t want to be just one screw at work. I want to develop in my career, Zhang thinks.

Zhang only tells his parents good news, such as a recent job offer from a startup that produces teaching materials. Even a small salary for a new job was not a problem. The parents promised to pay the rent for the apartment if the salary was not enough.

– They believe that if I try my best, that’s enough. And they will help if I need help. I think Chinese parents are largely like that, he says.

Zhang says the job isn’t exactly what he wants, but now is not the time to pick. The downturn has also receded when the university is over and some work is known.

More and more Chinese youth are interested in the long and narrow bread of the public sector. As long as the state is up and running, there will be enough jobs. The 26-year-old thinks the same Li Qiankun.

– The work of the authority is stable. Now, during a pandemic and a bad economic situation, my fellow students are also looking for a stable job where they can stay until retirement, Li says.

Li is graduating with a master’s degree in international politics. She has finally progressed in the job search process and is waiting for an interview.

Prior to that, he had time to attend about 50 job interviews, but there have been only a few offers.

Li believes it is mostly due to the pandemic. The situation is unlikely to improve any time soon.

– Korona tortures our graduating students. Few jobs, and interviews are postponed, he says.

Li does not blame the Chinese regime for the situation, on the contrary. He believes the global economic situation is causing difficulties for China.

I don’t think many Chinese youth want to go abroad. The situation there is even worse than in China.

Li Qiankun

Lin’s parents are farmers in a small village. They have invested in the education of their children. Expectations at home are high.

Li has done well in her studies. His parents want him to take office in the state because of its high social status. Li also finds the job attractive. He wants to serve the people.

He and his girlfriend have talked about the wedding, but not yet about the children.

– Raising a child requires a lot of energy and money. In the future, we will have to take care of four more of our parents. It’s a big burden, and I don’t think my salary is going to be big, he thinks.

Despite the poor job situation, Li doesn’t even think about moving abroad.

– I do not think that many young Chinese want to go abroad. There, the situation is even worse than in China, he says.

One of the students does not want to appear in the story under his own name because of the freedom of speech in China.

The soon-to-be-completed student has written 200 job applications. There has been enough time, as students at Peking universities have been isolated on campuses due to coronavirus restrictions since February.

– Until April, we were only allowed to leave the campus for a doctor or a job interview, he says. After that, they were not to blame either.

The young woman has practiced for job interviews, in which she participates in a video call, as in this conversation with .

The job search has not yet slowed down. According to him, only a few on campus have found a good job. Panic is growing.

– Everyone around me is really worried about unemployment all the time. It looks like students are worried about their entire future, he says.

There are three times as many unemployed young people in China as all other unemployed combined.

One in five young jobseekers is unemployed. Therefore, this student also continued his master’s studies after his bachelor’s degree. He wanted to delay his job search.

Unlike in Finland, many people in China start working after a bachelor’s degree. Master’s studies are referred to as postgraduate studies.

It was easy for our interviewee to get a postgraduate place because the state has drastically increased the number of students. The number of seats increased by four hundred thousand in the last two years to just over a million.

Now he regrets. The studies advertised attractively were revealed to be monotonous laboratory work.

– Students will become cheap labor, he says.

There is now an oversupply of highly educated young people in the Chinese labor market. A graduate may find a job, but it often does not match education and the salary is woefully low.

– In yesterday’s interview, they asked about my salary wishes. I said it’s 13,000 yuan [1 811 euroa]but they offered only 7,000 yuan, the student describes.

After the corona closures began this year, videos of student protests were circulating for a short time in Chinese Soma, but censorship quickly removed them. Now, a large portion of the teachers have left the campus, so the young people are at the university with each other.

Our interviewee laughs that the atmosphere is now relaxed. The labs even play mahjong, a Chinese game.

In isolation, young students are suddenly free to express themselves and talk to each other about their feelings. After sunset, they gather together out.

– After dinner, the university is super fun. Students play sports, talk and sing, he describes.

The New York Times writes that many young people in China find their generation unlucky because of employment difficulties and interest rate restrictions.

According to our interviewee, the challenges of his generation cannot be compared to previous generations. Everyone has had their own special challenge in China. Grandparents starved, experienced war and instability.

– My grandmother thinks her life is good when she gets enough food. He’s not asking for more, he says.

For the parents, a steady job was enough. The student says his wealth-born generation wants more from life than money.

– The difference between me and previous generations is that their materialistic needs have been replaced by spiritual needs, he says.

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