China announced Tuesday, August 15 the end of the publication of youth unemployment figures, which exceeded the 21% mark last June. While the economic context remains gloomy, young graduates are now faced with jobs that are far from their expectations and say they are disappointed.
2 mins
With our correspondent in Beijing, Stephane Lagarde
In a cafe in the center of Beijing which is full, there is hardly any room inside despite the high price of coffees and iced teas: faces blued by the screens create a studious atmosphere over pretty wooden tables in a raw concrete decor, sockets and above all wifi.
It’s time for the big questions: do you come here to work or looking for a job without parental pressure. This student from Sichuan, western China, quit his job at the beginning of the year to take up a master’s degree. She hopes to be paid more:
” I am aware that companies prefer graduates of the year, because they accept lower salaries and are easily usable. There are too many masters graduates anyway. We are still in a post-Covid-19 era, the economy is slipping and companies are investing little, so it will be hard to find a decent job. »
Many of these young school leavers had the experience of a first job in which they had the impression of being ” pions they say. The alternative is divided between badly paid service jobs or the hellish pace of the big data economy from which you come out crushed and not so well paid in the end. A young 29-year-old network architect confirms this:
” I worked in an industry that exhausted me. Today I want to change jobs. I was in an environment where the pay was low and the work grueling. I will try to find something else. Otherwise too bad, I will not die. »
“Full-Time Children”
Rather than the question of employment, it is the question of a decent wage to live in a city like Beijing that these young people are talking about. Just like meaning at work in a digitized economy.
This interior designer was disappointed by her first work placement. At 24, she is continuing her studies at the prestigious Tsinghua University: “ As an interior designer, she says, things have become difficult with the real estate crisis, there have been many bankruptcies in the sector. More generally, the real problem today is finding a job that meets our expectations. I am not ready to give up what I aspire to find a job. »
Born work more under any conditions, even if it means staying with your parents for a while: Chinese social networks have dubbed this phenomenon ” full time children “.