China's Youth Unemployment At Record Highs: Meet The Jobless Graduates | Insight | Full Episode
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 พ.ค. 2024
- A record breaking 11.6 million graduates have just left school in China this year. But they now face the toughest jobs market in recent memory. In the most recent figures, about one in five youths are officially unemployed. Meanwhile, the Chinese government has stopped publishing youth unemployment statistics.
From a slowing economy, to a mismatch in skills versus available jobs, to unrealistic expectations of workers and employers, Insight explores the reasons for the high unemployment rate, through the eyes of those who are young and jobless in China.
00:00 Introduction
03:32 China's young graduates struggle to find jobs
08:41 Cutthroat competition for few available jobs
14:16 Few entry-level jobs for millions of graduates
19:36 Mismatched salary expectations
23:36 "Full-time" sons and daughters
30:33 Rising discontentment and looming protests?
36:42 New jobs for youths in the countryside?
42:06 Unusual ways to earn and save money
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Hi all, this is Wei, the director of the documentary. Thank you all for taking the time to watch the program. We spent 2 months tracking the job hunts of the young people you saw. I’m grateful for their participation, and moved by how they all had smiles on their faces and light in their eyes despite the curveball life has thrown at them.
Our first profile Xiami now has his own channel, in which he talks with Chinese youths from all walks of life. If you speak Chinese, you can find him as 严肃的虾米.
Llilul
Here is my greetings (Chinese style) : like first, followed by watch.
You guys did great work!
If my parents didn't leave China 30 years ago, I would be screwed. I would legit be a live in child with my parents into my 40's or just be completely homeless. I did really bad in college in America, but I still managed to get a job that pays 80k USD a year, increasing every year by more than 3 percent. The fact that I could fail at school and still making a living at a higher than average salary is something I'm pretty thankful for. For peasants like us, the US is really the land of opportunity compared to China where the competition is beyond insane. When I went to University, I couldn't even compete with any overseas students from China. Like they got A's and I got D's and sometimes F’s
Their smiles are bitter, don't you see it
I love how he said that they're not releasing youth unemployment stats because the country is developing rapidly and the stats will get better. It's like me opting out of my performance review at work because I am, in my own assessment, getting more productive by the day, so I'll take the review next year.
And we don't know if those who spoke out would get punished.
@@ChanJoonYeeLike LKY did during his days. 😂
Why would ever China punished people for that, too much lies from western media! China won't publish data to the world, be it real or not real, western media will manipulate it to smear China, I have seen too many anti China channel geared up recently because China is overtaking the west on every corner!
Every day I am developing my personal continuous improvement matrix…..
😂😂😂
I think the lack of opportunities is tied to how corporations are simultaneously abusing their current employees, overworking them, and then being unwilling to invest in the next generation of their work force.
Remember, China has a communist government structure but in reality their economics is capitalism on steroids. Sure the government owns most of the stuff, but still private corporation is basically exploiting people.
The opposite of what a communist society should be obviously.
becuz that can save the cost
Also, the fact they want youth to take up STEM education while not creating enough jobs in that field. Foreign companies are wary of sending such jobs to China because they fear their tech will eventually be stolen.
Agree, also Industrial robots and artificial intelligence may be the root cause of more unemployment?
agreed, and people will overwork because they believe this will keep their job safe, but unfortunately it's the way our economic system is setup, it will only favor the rich and we will just become corporate slaves, and slave to the dollar :(
When I graduation from college, I couldn't find a job for 2 years. I know how frustrating and depressing the journey can be. That was 30+ years ago. I am doing great now. Hang in there, never give up.
Please give up. There's no future for you in capitalism. You deserve more than wage slavery. You deserve to live in a truly democratic world that you have agency and an actual future in
Yes, can agree with you even though I'm still in college but I'm nervous I can't find a job in the future, I cant imagine how hard those unemployed graduates may feel.
Similar situation, the problem is that you graduate from collage and when looking for a job its mostly "2-5y experience in similar position"...so how can that graduate find job if all companies demand already having experience and does not want to put money in training new workers. What we need is a system that trains fresh graduate on specific jobs and after that training based on their final performence they are given a list of job opportunities to start their journey as work force. Companies gain trained personel while the graduate gets less stress regarding finding their first job.
@@9kelochi355 just study Englisb and also go to the gym to build a nice body.
come to Moscow. there are a lot of job here. you can teach English @@Zibi21
Thank you to those brave students who agreed to be interviewed and shine a light on the harrowing experience of many in my generation. To those who are older, more experienced and have made it in life. It means the world to us you understand our struggles and challenges, even if you're not in the position to help us.
I feel like everywhere people just struggle, it becomes normal and just another statistic.
as long as there are people willing to reduce the workforce because they can gain more money, then we will have a situation where there's not enough jobs, it's a vicious cycle, and this is unfortunately not simply related to one generation, many of us gets affected. You might think that the older generation had "made it", but there are still many of us unsure of our future as we near the age where people will want to give us less opportunities, it's just like health deteriorating etc. I don't believe in this capitalistic world we can truly feel certain or safe in our future without working and having lots of money, until we can get out such systems, we're all in an unfortunate struggle of existing.
I am Masters student at one of the top Canadian university, working in a warehouse as a part time for 30 hours per week under 0 degree Celsius temperature, travelling in a public transport for 2 hours daily, working on 3 academic project every 4 months and applying to more than 200 internship position in a month. All in all you have to struggle to survive no matter where you are.
It is normal to work 10 hours a day in China.
The last time I worked in a warehouse in a small city it was less than $2 an hour.
Too many graduates world wide😮
For a masters student in Canada, your English writing is pretty poor.
@@daffyduck4195 🦆 ducky you are too sarcastic
@@daffyduck4195 sorry but i don't know in what language ducks can read.
Another reason is that Labor-intensive industry in China is quite exploitative, majority of youngers are not willing to seek a job in factory or catering industry.
Meanwhile, the employers who offer low-skilled jobs are not willing to hire a worker with beholder's degree. Because they worry that these highly educated employees will leave since they are less likely to endure the high pressure.
not only the high pressure, many jobs always mean danger and hurt(physical), like extremely hot and eat hand's machine
Youth unemployment is horrible. If the starting message to your work life is "nobody wants you at the peak of your employability", then imagine how these youths must feel with most of their life yet to come.
People are not at "peak employability" when they graduate. 30s-40s is peak employability.
They thought it was a piece of cake and turned out it wasn't. They had naive expectations. Young people can adapt and learn what the real world is like. Everybody else is out there working whether they like the job or not. It's not that bad learning to be an adult. A chance to grow into a better person.
@@jamessmith1652 thats pretty delusional but whatever
@@jamessmith1652 Not in Asian countries
Depends on your field, if you are doing any form of trade work, starting young is the best.@@jamessmith1652
There is a growing problem around the world in regard to the younger generation. They were told that getting a degree would enhance the future prospects, and that was true for the Boomer, Gen X and to some level Millennial generations. We as kept telling them the best way to improve their future was through a degree, so what happened and is still happening is that more and more youngsters are attending Universities, so now it's no longer an elite qualification. What's happened is that because so many people now have degrees they've effectively become worthless, they've become undervalued. So the next step was to get a Master's Degree, which has meant more and more are getting a Post Graduate qualification, and so lessening the value of a Master Degree.
There are just too many youngsters out there looking for graduate level first jobs, and not enough jobs to go around. So you find individuals working in job roles that don't require a degree level qualification. So what we have in China and many other countries are an abundance of the younger generation who are over qualified with degrees that effectively worthless.
Plus AI. Chat GPT is built for get rid of white collar jobs
@TheDysartes, you are from the US, yes?
Agree
The young are naïve
You are very correct! Meanwhile, there are employers and smaller businesses that are eager and desperate to hire apprentices or technicians or mechanics to get such badly needed work done.
And despite the growing jobs, wages and opportunities in many other fields of study; too many people are arrogant and just go around assuming this or that.
It is sad what is happening to these bright, young, industrious people. They seem malleable and resilient. I have empathy for them. I’m retired and disabled; I’ve found that few people want to hire 70 year old men that can’t walk much. I will pray that these young wonders find a way to fly in their lives!
Well. They have their battle to fight and in their times. Nothing is worst than to wait for handouts and the govt to do something for you.
Don't pray vote instead
Whish this young people all the best👍🤟
I'm glad I see some in your generation do genuinely care about the ass backwards situation my generation is in. I'm not part of the loud ones who just blame the 'boomer' generation and whine, but it's hard not to take offense at 'just get a job like I did lazy ass! like they did any hard university studying where we were expected to prove so much, for so little gain.
sigh, hopefully something changes sooner rather than later before we squabble too much
Same concept. Would you hire a child?
I am 30 years of age living in taiwan and still jobless😢
A good education is the dream of the parents. Its the economy that slaps the kids with the hand of reality.
@@harrtybb There is a correlation that education breeds a strong economy but that doesn't imply causation.
At the end of the day your economy has to make things to sell to others. What does China have that other countries want, and what kind of jobs are those?
China wants to control all sorts of markets but what they risk of doing to themselves is becoming a jack of all trades and master of none. Who will be working in the factories in China? If the cost of manufacturing goes up in China, then people will not want to buy Chinese made products.
@@harrtybb You're implying education increases productivity/skill when by large that is barely the case anymore. Rather Education is merely used as a filtering mechanism to get higher paying jobs.
Universities are by and large are scams. Most students cheat their way through especially Chinese, always trying to game the system.
I work with Chinese Grads and they are some of the dumbest people on the planet.
@@Usernamedefault. I rarely comment on youtube but I think everyone is entitled to their opinion. I don't know economy. While productivity is a thing, the sheer size of China is THE problem. Based on this video, we ultimately have a supply and demand problem. Too many people and not enough jobs. China has real opportunity here to leverage its leadership power, to organize Country wide employment planning and get people to train for the right skills where the country needs. Germany did something similar. A lot of problems in this video are supply and demand problem. Try to balance them will be a good way to go about it.
Higher education is a given, but the right kind of education will help these poor students to not be so lost right out of school.
I am Chinese. I believe the biggest issue with Chinese education is the lack of emphasis on the reasons for studying. When students engage in coursework, they aren't informed about its practicality and necessity. Instead, they simply study and then prepare for exams. This educational system often leads to significant distress among students. They're unable to pursue subjects based on their interests and passions. Additionally, to excel in exams, students must prioritize their academic pursuits over other interests, leaving them confused about the meaning of life, their identity, and their purpose.
The root of this problem lies in China's societal obsession with academic qualifications. The primary criterion for government and corporate recruitment is often one's academic credentials. Even if individuals possess unique talents and abilities, they may find themselves unable to leverage them.
While I recognize that this issue exists to varying degrees across global societies, in China, with a population nearing 1.5 billion, the problem is particularly severe, and the competition is incredibly fierce.
I believe the only viable solution lies in economic development. However, for those of us caught in this whirlwind, we're forced to participate in the frustrating academic competition game.
Vocational trainings and human resources agencies should be thriving by now. Just create more businesses.
Numbers of graduates are growing. But the job market is actually shrinking. And another situation in China is that you might be facing layoff once you over 35. Not to mention people need to work so hard to get a job with the toxic work environment like intense workload and overtime. ( if you don't take this job, someone else will. Thats how toxic it is) I hope China can turn things around becuase there are many students like me are facing this challenge.
Go learn hard labour jobs😂😂😂😂😂
Unfortunately, this is a vicious cycle as the Chinese government was too complacent in their thinking that they (China) will never be "phased out".
It all begun with the lack of local entrepreneurship endorsement in China. As there are some corruptions from county to municipal all the way to the central government, it's usually the few company with government-relations that secure the projects. and where new company (which is the fundamental basis of capitalism) gets "cocky" or onto the bad side of the government, they are often either forced to comply or be forced out i.e. Alibaba. There reduces the incentives for entrepreneurs to create new business which would improve employments.
Another issue is with the label "World's factory" which the Chinese people mistakenly took pride in. The red flag is this moniker is that all of these brands/manufacturers are actually international companies whom simply set up their production line in China due to being cost-efficient. The First push was by then and former US president Donald Trump attempting to force US companies like Apple to migrate their productions back to the States. The Final push was China's zero-covid policy and unpredictable lockdowns which persuaded these international giants that there is no way to cease production and cripple their own business for 1-2 years simply on China's wimps, and had to make alternatives arrangements in other SEA countries e.g. India and Vietnam. Anyone would be sadly mistaken if they think that these companies would flock back to China, closing down their alternative arrangements which investments have already been made. At the very least, there will be a proportioned productions which partly reduce labour in China. At worst, complete production migration, which is complete termination of labour (which is what is currently happening with alot of the factories in Zhu Hai). This has a major ripple effect as these mega factory complexes have their own economical eco-system, where Logistics, F&B, retail and dormitories' businesses prospers.
Bottom line - Common Prosperity is flawed. This meant that Business should contribute or pump their profits completely back into the community so that every one "prosper". The caveat is "except the business owner" whom founded the business because HE/SHE wanted to make more money for HIM/HERSELF (Hello Capitalism). Look at all Communist societies, which one had their entire community prosper strictly based on the communism ideologies. All developments are at the compromise of introducing capitalism. And when capitalism is removed, all will revert back to its rightful place.
It's happening all around the world
China's experiencing what happened in the US and Europe when manufacturing jobs moved there. Chinese business owners themselves are manufacturing in India/Indonesia etc and starting to move to Africa for even cheaper labour. China's even building the infrastructure to support this and educating foreign students so they're proficient in Chinese. Now would have been a perfect time to spend on infrastructure and subsidised ev's. Will be interesting to see if China opens up to mass immigration. Cheap labour force on home turf and lots of renters for empty apartments paying mortgages for owners allowing them spend again. Literally billions in India and Africa looking to relocate for work.
That's messed up. Instead of hiring more to take care of extra workload, companies are reducing number of employees to maximize profits is what you're saying essentially.
If employers are hiring students with masters for office work, how can lower education students get any jobs. This is crazy, so sorry for the rest of graduated youths.
Manager dont like to hire someone more qualified than ownself 😂
😂crazy masters. i don't even have a degree but I'm not from China
It is the case for over 20 years in France. For decent jobs the master was a requirement. I just think the rest of the world is catching up
Its better to live a good old meaningful Monk life now, I think
@@CreativWyse cause it cuts profits. Corporate conservatives of the world that adopted the american dream, the main function of it is to outsource jobs to poor countries and maximize profits. They rather buss in illegal immigrants to do these jobs, its why its soo common around the world, they are using the same exact practice.
I graduated in the US in 2009, the year after the Financial crash. My entire graduating class that year had an unemployment rate of ~30%, and that's for people with a full Bachelor's degree or higher (even worse for those without). Nevertheless all of my friends who struggled then now have productive careers. So don't give up, keep looking, and get career experience wherever you can. Even part-time job and contracting work is better than nothing to put on your resume.
You must have gotten one of those useless degrees. I went through 2008, it never got that bad.. The highest unemployment rate for university degree holders only topped at 5% during the great recession. There isn't a huge mismatch in degrees and economy in the US.
@@xiphoid2011 The fact you're quick to insult me shows just what kind of lowlife you are. Where did I say I couldn't find a job personally?
I had an engineering degree from one of the top 20 universities in the US. I know what my school's own counsellor's office gave us in terms of data. The government's unemployment data is utter crap since it doesn't account for way too many categories -- like if you never held a full-time job before, you don't exist on unemployment stats.
Thank you 🥹
@@xiphoid2011what’s a ‘useless’ degree?
Generally anything that is not a hard STEM degree or in the medical field. Typically any art / humanities degrees will fall into the "useless" category. @@merrytunes8697
I'm a Taiwanese Australian. I feel sad watching this. It's not like these young people are not trying. I can say that they are a very resilient bunch - having to cope through COVID-19, navigate through an economic downturn, rising living cost, high competition in the job market, rising house price which is pretty much unreachable already for many working professionals. I hope they don't give up and keep trying. Hopefully things work out for them and it will get better!
They won't give up. Giving up is not the Chinese way.
China is at peak projected population, and there are too many people now. Not everyone will get a good job. Lots of people are going to be relegated to working low paying high demand jobs like doing deliveries. They were born in the wrong generation. Nothing anyone can do about that. 只能认命。
It's a much more serious problem than the video implies. Unemployed people won't go out to build families - which means another generation of low birth rates, and a continued downwards spiral etc, etc. China's failure to take care of this explosive unemployment problem will mean a continuing drop of population that the CCP will not be able to control.
The worst thing is that following CCP's criteria: anyone who works for at least 1 hour per week is considered employed.
With the way marriage and divorce has always benefitted women.....the state of marriages is why the child rate is continuing to drop.
@@patricew.4010 A financially stable and happy family won't have divorce problems. If you want to blame anyone, blame those who can't handle having a relationship.
The problem it seems is China has pushed its youth into tertiary education to suit a service based economy, despite the fact that China's main strength is manufacturing.
Thr graph that shows China chasing down Germany's education rate doesn't mention one thing about Germany. The system there is much better structured for graduates, particularly from technical universities, to be placed in employment.
youre outdated. china has been moving away from manufacturing and into services for the past decade already.
This is definitely it. China doesn't export or consume anything that needs workers with tertiary education.
Well, Germany is heading for a similar problem. There is a huge need for construction workers or the like, while many of the current workers are about to retire. All this while many of the unemployed are rejected because they are overqualified and therfore earn a higher salary (or would demand it early on after being hired).
And while all this is happening, many young people are striving to qualify for "easy" jobs because it is becoming more and more obvious how badly even the better educated ones of the workers are treated. If you don't want to be under pressure nonestop, don't become an engineer, for example, but become his contact in HR and administration
Germaois headed to negative gdp growth. I don't wanna hear anything about it lol
Another is with zero COVID even service industries closed. Manufacturing jobs and international exports have significantly reduced.
The last sentence of this young woman is incredible sad. Hope she finds a job soon
A very well put together, balanced documentary. Enjoyed it a lot thanks
Currently the "depreciation of degrees" is really getting crazy....I graduate in 2010 and I could easily find a job and the companies are willing to spend time & money to train employees. But nowadays, a lot of companies just simply skipped those candidates with undergraduate degree. For those people with lower degrees, they can only find the job as physical worker.
I don't think companies are skipping candidates with degrees. I think companies are skipping candidates without experience. They would rather employ the trained than train employees. In a world full of people with useless degrees, companies are realising that degrees are not a very good metric for identifying useful candidates.
With the “woke/diversity” culture, companies are actually watering down the positions. They now hire high schoolers to fill positions once reserved for college grads.
@@andrewashkettle Thank you, agree 100%.
Agreed. In the US, there are some views see that high end education on some of the useless degrees are a scam making graduates into deep debts are graduating. Every youth dream of working for some soft job in Google or Xitter rather than a networker in the company. When the money runs low, the first to go are those soft jobs.
Blame the push of feminism diverting resources and bursting the labor market while taking away worker's rights and leverage. If women allowed men to be paid according to a less female favored system, corporations would make less profit, with barely any slower development while alleviating the societal stress on the family. Currently, everyone is being exploited and large groups left unhappy due to the promises of decades of propaganda.
The drive of the young man towards the end will be going far in life. People with his mindset always find a way. Best of luck to the entire 🌎
Sadly, Xi would probably feed him into a meat grinder of the next military conquest
not to the enire world please :)
The worldwide job market is a zero sum game, so succes of 1 person equals the failure of another :)
That's not true, creating value is not zero sum
@@galanta3534 yes, but creating value is (in almost all cases) not done by employees , but by employers/entrpreneurs
Certainly in sectors of huge unemployment
@@baardagaam Not true, the failure can be for "A) nature", "B) future generations (current scenario)", C) A mix of them.
This isn't just an issue in China. There have been an overvaluation/marketing of college education in many countries, including the US. This is because it used to be great. Once about a time, only the best and brightest(and some rich/powerful) get to go to college. So naturally, their out come are great, not just because they are college educated, but also because they are the best and brightest(or rich and powerful). In some ways, college is but a certificate for talent. But as college becoming increasingly common, that's no longer true. In many places, college educated have became the norm, so it is no longer a hallmark itself. Instead, competition is back to primarily merit, which the college education is no longer a proof of.
Fundamentally, this is a societal problem at large on the perspective of colleges. While "everyone is created equal" sounds nice, it is just factually not true in regards to aptitude. People have different talents at different things. Many people just aren't book smart. Some are, for example, great with their hands and would have made a great tradesman that could earn more over mediocre grades at mediocre college but are pushed toward college nevertheless. As for the actual talentless, to be blunt, it is better to subsidize their life for... life, than having them waste educational resources and then have to be subsidized for life anyway.
Barrier to entry for education/training based on meritocracy is not a bad thing inherently. The problem, naturally, is that this might be bad for the economically/socially disadvantaged, as almost all test of meritocracy is affected by prior education/training. But the solution to that should not be blind admission via lowering of the barrier, but rather attempt to provide better early stage education/training to them. This, btw, is also the reason why I dislike the concept of AA and any other such programs. While it might be the simplest solution and, if all else fails, a better-than-nothing compromise, the reality of the result tend to be grim. Given the high rate of, let's be honest, economical failures of college graduates, those who are barely able to get in through any preferential program are even less likely to be successful. So the end result tend to be an increase of student debt laden individuals among already disadvantaged population. it would be far better, IMO, to find ways to shore up primary and secondary education for the disadvantaged. This might take longer to see any results, but would actually help those who are talented but merely lack opportunity. As for those who, in the end, not suited for a paper education, they would know so sooner and look for alternatives. As alluded earlier, trades can be quite lucrative and we need more people in them.
Found it very different in Canada. A Master’s degree may be a must for any entry level job in nowadays China, while in Canada it will reject you from any low wage job for being overqualified. Extremely harsh for new graduates without direct experience but useless degrees from top universities.
I don't know the situation in Canada, but it's correct in China. I am a Chinese
The same in the USA. I have a masters and thankfully found a good job after being laid off for over a year however lower paid jobs wouldn't take me since I was over qualified
Got a MI degree in UofT, this situation is sadly true.
As a Chinese living in Canada, this hits me so hard 😂
This is what the college grads in 2008 of the US went through. There's no easy solution. It will take years for the recovery and doom that generation.
How did those college graduates recover ?
@aruns425 the first step would be settling for lesser jobs and lower their expectations. Odds jobs, temporary jobs, service jobs. Who knows how long they have to do it. And by the time 5years or so goes by they are most likely shunned in favor of fresh grads. Then they will have to invest into either upgrading their skills or going back to school full time.
@@Traderking1990 they didnt
@@DeadManWalking-ym1oo经济复苏是中国买了美国国债，买完中国就直接通胀了，不过现在中国军事实力起来更本就不怕美国，这次中国可不买单了，估计美国 2 年之后就可能金融危机
But the next generation now Gen Z got record starting salaries after college. At 50,000 USD/yr for undergrads. The generation previous lost out.
Youth unemployment rate in China has something to do with overemphasis on higher education, at the expense of trade and vocational education, that not having a university diploma may affect future prospects of getting married.
yea this is an issue especially in first world/developing countries.
Too many highly educated people but not enough jpobs
@@herpderp9394not true, it’s more prevalent in developing countries or struggling failed countries than first world countries to have high youth unemployment rate.
@@ditsygirl5409 sounds like you've never been in any actually competitive profession. There's a limit to how many STEM graduates any country can absorb, there's plenty of high performing college grads working blue collar or hospitality jobs in the West.
CNA insight, kindly run some videos of homeless sleepers in USA and Canada. We could like to see what would the reactive from the democratic run governments and also the discharge of radio active water into the ocean. If it is safe it can use for the own farming
@@hockheekwek8431 Nice whataboutism you have here. By the way, you know what the "A" in CNA stands for right? I think they should talk about the Japan's discharge of the treated water but I am sure it will likely relate to the political rivalry between Japan and China that you will be upset to hear about because it likely talks about China blowing things out of proportion.
That's why many people got their small family business so their children can run the business while looking for their favourite jobs. We Malaysians did that. Even we got into niche market - plants nursery, coffee shop, small bakery etc...
Try to learn some niche skills - animal grooming, pets care, ...
Yes, this is the solution. It works.
I think learning a specific skill by going to a trade school (to become an electrician, car mechanic, dental hygienist, etc) is more financially feasible (and maybe have a higher return on investment) than going to a traditional university, getting a bachelor's degree, and looking for a decent corporate job (which is much more competitive since so many people have the same exact degree)
I was like these kids once. When I graduated, I couldn't find a full time job for 2 years.
Sure some of it is because of their high expectations. I had those aspirations too when I graduated. But at some point, you just have to find any job you can, deal with the hardship, and grind your way until you can find a better opportunity, even if that takes years.
The worst thing you can do is do nothing and hoping the problems away. Hang in there and try your hardest.
If you can't honestly answer the question "Did you really try your best?", with a "yes", then keep going, you still have hope.
I hope these young people will find a way out.
Yea, back to the rice field
Small business is the future believe me. Don't work for cooperate.
Its called immigrating to another country
I wouldn't be super happy on my graduation day if I knew I'd have such a difficult time finding a job afterwards. I can see why people would want to go graduate school, so they can prolong the job search.
Yeah, I heard the new about that the coming graduate students to break the rules in deliberately for delay the dead line of graduation.
This is the same as what happened to the US Millenials who graduated college in 2007 and 2008. Zero jobs available so we either went to grad school or moved back in with parents.
@@oc6617 Millennials are a lost generation. It's up to Gen Zs now.
But we also have it hard, around the world there are just no jobs
So much moneys going to them. Their like flys that sell drugs.
This is same in India. Post doctorate degree holder applies for government group c and d jobs where minimum eligibility criteria is class 12 or diploma holders
Ironically, as someone with a PhD. Being a carpenter, master welder, and plumber. Has allowed me to buy a home of my own, at 34. Along with affording me the luxury of traveling twice overseas, to Europe for vacation, all the way from Western Asia.
P.S. I’m a millennial, who just turned 35, a mere four days ago, btw. 😅
64% enrolled in tertiary studies means a substantial number of them, perhaps half, will be disappointed upon graduation. What is the jobs distribution by education levels in a society?
In Singapore, early entrants seems well received typically baring in mind biz environment. One area of concerns for jobs may be for mid-careerist and thereafter groups of new young seniors
I graduated in 2022 in one of chinese university, and now become a software engineer. In fact,the unemployed rate of people who over 35 years old maybe much higher than younger. But there’s no actual unemployed toll or rate about this. I hope Wei, the author, can do a survey about this , thx.
I think there was an interesting subtext running under this set of stories which is that it’s not clear what the government or anyone else can do about this. Almost all the people featured pursued degrees in what were recently major growth sectors of the economy or for socially desirable roles. The skills mismatch is made more acute without a clear signal of where new growth will be. There’s some public messaging around manufacturing but it’s not clear how much that sector can grow in terms of employment. The entrepreneurs trying to move up the value chain in agriculture is a reasonable bet, but it’s not clear what type of support people are getting in trying out such options.
You can only have so many degree-holders in any given country. Any extras will have problems finding jobs commensurate to their equalification.
Get the degree requirements in a job description out. Nobody needs a degree to work in companies that requires no problem solving skills
This is the perfect solution. While they're at it, if the companies just employ everyone, the unemployment problem goes away! /s
I can always look to CNA for thoughtful and objective documentaries on China's economy. What a breath of fresh air!
Please consider to dub the chinese parts of this documentary. This is really helpful for those of us who are blind or simply doing some kind of work while we listen and can't read the subtitles. Thanks🙂
Yep, lots of Chinese think that 10-20k a month rmb is normal standard salary lol. But the truth is their salary is still stuck at around 5k rmb a month. Those that earn equivalent of western salary/wage is actually very very fortunate and few in china and their education level is advance compare to those that get paid the same in the west , west earning the same amount are prob just supermarket workers. White collars in the west would earn 5-10x that
chinese dream is lower than spore dream
可怜的西方人拿着他们的高收入和中国人比，但是他们却忘了拿自己的国家的物价和中国比。他们忘了自己国家的免费医疗几个月才排的到，等排到的时候要么死了要么好了😂还要我提醒你们国家高昂的医保税收吗？一群被牧羊人栓住的羊却把自己当成牧羊人笑话可以自由吃草的羊。电费天气费食物费涨价没😂一群白痴西方人😂
"White collars in the west would earn 5-10x that" Rent in west also 5-10x so what's difference?
@@bunnyfreakz I can just imagine chinese workers renting out coffin homes at 5-10x while the west downsizing to something smaller but much larger than a coffin at that multiple.
@@bunnyfreakzno，I came to Canada last year and I find the rent here is not higher than shenzhen-a big city in china 😢
I had the same experience 8 or 9 years ago in Canada. Not a single reply after 300++ application within 6 months. So I personally don't think this is a new phenomenon.
what was your university major?
@@TwinJalanugraha physics and mathematics.
@@choonghengjie1026 what kind of job were you looking for?
@@TwinJalanugraha research assistant, lab technician, business analyst, teacher, engineer, machine operator, administrator etc. I tried every possible job as long as the job description stated that my degree is what they are looking for.
@@choonghengjie1026 what do you do now? does it have anything to do with your degree?
1.overall economic de-acceleration after covid
2.reducing of small and private enterprises due to increasing of labor costs
3. House markets which account for huge labor force declined
4.more vocational training schools required than universities
College/Graduate degree is only meaningful if it's able to truly separate those with degree and those without degree with secure, well paying jobs. When you over expand colleges and universities without producing enough job opportunities, only the colleges are making money. Also, there are simply not enough high paying jobs for 11 million graduates, some are going to have to go into trade jobs or hourly service/hospitality jobs. The mismatch of job prospect expectation with college/graduate degree versus job market reality is a problem for all countries right now.
Well summerized and prise .
21.3%???
I believe that the actual rate should be around 40%.
Noticed this happening in Europe 30 years ago. Was wondering what all the young people were doing on the office floor with a BA/MA degree, and staying. Is called degree inflation. Luckily we were a society already transformed to a service industry and could afford these changes.
Till date Europe suffers same level of unemployment. Speaking from experience.
@@apachekafka773not true, except for a few countries, unemployment rate hovers around 6%, some even come close to so called "full employment" status
@@jenshoefer7944 Thats the total. Youth unemployment stats are different.
@@dabo5078 in germany for example the youth unemployment rate is almost the same as the overall unemployment rate, both slightly below 6%
@@jenshoefer7944 Uh, Italy? Spain? Portugal?
The problem is so many young people just overqualified. Their parents send their kids to study and get high degree but a sector that absorb those people just small. Low basic blue collar job such waitress, factor workers are always available. But OFC those people don't want work as blue collar worker if they have a prestigious degree. It is dilemma.
I've been turned down from service jobs in the US for being overqualified because they believed I would leave them high and dry. It's a double-edged sword.
@@RionAgrias This. I got turned down many times from basic jobs like stacking shelves at a super market or shop assistant because I am overqualified. Couple years in IT, and also learned a lot of programming and have projects in it. Catch is, market for IT and programming is super bad right now, but the other jobs don't want me because they will know I'll jump ship as soon as I get something in IT / programming.
The problem is education level has been climbing up too rapidly and chinese graduates are mostly focused on academic educations, not much blue collar educations. There is a vast vacant of needs in many areas, but only less educated people are willing to do those skilled labours, people just wanna sit in the office and that is considered decent.
As the people have said a few times in the video, they would be willing to work those blue collar jobs but at a higher wage and not the cheap wages being offered.
Very nice documentary guys🎉🎉
I bet that youth unemployment rate is much higher than 21%.
Thats why they stopped to report it
Atlesst 40%
I'm surprised by, as of late, every time I listen to news about some other country, how much similar everyone's situation is to our own here in Italy.
I Feel bad for these Chinese youth having lived this myself after graduating spring of 2007. I’ve never had a job that required my business degree only low wage jobs and made more in the 90s as a kid working summer jobs than after graduating.
Mostly the policies of government lead to this high unemployment among youth..
The property market crash due to Evergrande, the crackdows on tech sector and after school tuition sector lead to demand and supply mismatches across country...
Tech Sector do not provides massive jobs for masses. It is specializing job with really small number of employment.
Based on the video, it seems to me that the problem lays more on the mismatch between what the pampered generation wants and what kind of job available on the market....
The market would fix itself the longer this thing drags on.....
30 years ago, I was a graduate unemployed from Australia, ended up starting my first job in Singapore.
SAME PROBLEM IN INDIA EVEN WE ARE GROWING FAST BUT UNEMPLOYMENT IS ON HIGH HERE TOO
A degree alone isn’t enough. You have to have certificates, technical skills, internships, etc
And you have to be good looking.
@@eduardochavacano If that was the case I would have starved to death.
The problem is that during China's lockdown, many companies were unable to continue operating and closed down. There were more and more graduates but fewer and fewer job opportunities. But more importantly, imagine if you graduated from college, you wouldn't expect to work as a factory worker or delivering for Uber, you'd look for some high-paying job. And many college students are unwilling to return to their hometowns to work because they think big cities are more prosperous. This has led to more and more college students graduating and staying in big cities, preferring to wait without any income until they find a 'decent' job. For example, if you are from India or Bangladesh and you want to stay and work in New York, the Americans will not give you a work visa or green card. At this time, many people would rather stay in the United States without income or work in restaurants rather than return to their hometowns.
Thank you for speaking for us. It’s fair and objective.
Must be said it is a complex issue to discuss in many aspects 😮💨 I also see training cost has shifted to the workers which we had to spend a lot and carry loans just to further educate ourselves for the job market 🙁 If after investing many thousands to graduate and cannot find a related job, it makes sense to feel the degree (investment) is wasted, thus explaining why would prefer and risk to keep looking for related jobs to use their qualifications and not take low-paying jobs 🤕 (But don't get me wrong, low-pay jobs is another issue that has to be addressed too because they are often underrated and should be fairly granted for their hard pay work
I graduate in 1997 during Tom Yum Kung crisis. Most of my Thai friend opt for higher education sponsor by their parents. It's took some time for job markets to recover.
There was a guy who made a song about this in china, it's called 阳光开朗孔乙己, funny and brilliant song, really explains the jobless graduate situation in China! Btw, the song is on youtube!
The song itself was merely good, but it being deleted everywhere on chinese internet and its writer getting banned has made it legendary.
Any subs?
@@GYI5U good yes, but it sends a very strong message, which is the point essentially.
@@wilson16 the creator uploaded it to youtube. His handle here :鬼山哥
Great documentary ❤
so . . . at some points, my nephew come to me and asked about his job searching. so when i asked why he choose his specific degree in college, he said that according to statistic, his degree has a large number of demand from job market. i had to explain to him that, such demand would have to be compared to the amount of applicant and graduates. And also most of job would require certain amount of experience, not only a degree. So in the end he would have to search for some small project to fill in his CV and hoping for more things.
Master degree is just like a High school diploma in China.
Even my dogs have MBAs.
They are looking for new grads with double PhDs.
Oh… what's your degree then?
@@FreedumbSauceFriedFrogs I'm just a UPS driver. I make around $120K in Idaho.
wow, your dog must be a lot smater than you.
Your dogs are so overqualified they probably can't even bark.
@@johng4093 My dogs are smarter that y'all communist slaves.
empathy for the students. but don't give up. keep your head high and be positive. i remember when i graduated a long time ago, the job market was so poor that we had ph.d. people working in very minimal jobs. when the oil price crashed a few years ago, we had oil companies vp working in gas station. so keep a positive attitude, the sun will always rise the next morning. love from canada.
I am Masters student at one of agriculture university in china.i hope pass IELTS exam and find a job.the world is so diversity and beauty ,i just wanna to see it.
Many of you students need to know is this is common. It took me two years to find a job I really wanted. Hang in there
I had to work several part-time jobs for nearly 2 years after I graduated college because I couldn't find a full-time job that was relevant to my degree. I felt so bad that I stopped talking to a lot of my friends and even fell into depression for the first time in my life.
As horrible as having a 9 to 5 feels, it feels even more horrible to be unemployed (and educated). It felt like I had just wasted 2 decades of my life on going to school, but for what? I finally have a career but daydream of quitting everyday. Good luck to any recent grads who are still job hunting, it will get easier.
Without good jobs, the system makes a mockery of their college degrees. 😂
Covid had been tough on every country.
All the Asian country have high youth unemployment.
A lot of young graduates will have to take any jobs offered rather than the discipline they studied.
In Kuala Lumpur,the rental for condos are BELOW pre Covid.
Business is bad and everyone have to lower their expectations.
别说亚洲，全世界都是如此，但是大多数西方国家都在嘲笑中国，可能他们不知道自己国家的真实失业率
That's what i fell 6 years ago.. when im enrolled Geology major in 2010. In Indonesia had phase of Commodity booms. And jobs for Geology was abundant in Mining Company.. but when im graduated it's look like turn around 180 degree. All my senior had laid off. And it's so hard to find a job for geology. 😅
Documentaries by cna is really nice and balanced.
As a nurse it makes me sad that people get a degree in elderly care and eventually talk about it in such a rude way. I understand the pay is low (in China, in the Netherlands I honestly can't complain) so it may not be someone's first choice but to me it seems better to have a job instead of no job at all? Nursing and taking care of sick people/elderly should definitely be a calling. How would these young people feel if their loved ones would be treated/talked about like that? Maybe I should be glad that people who talk about caring for others in such a way don't end up actually working in the field.
The young boy who admits being spoiled by his parents doesn't seem to ever be motivated to work. Obviously for a large part his parents are to blame.
It's because he doesn't want to spend his life being overworked while not making much money, until he is too old to move. Chinese companies will expect you to work to the bone
He should have just gotten a different degree 👎
his father is actually correct master's degree is not supposed to have so much graduate if the standard is substantiated
Masters degree doesn’t mean higher level degree. Its essentially just another bachelor degree, same thing as doing two degrees…
@@hanzocloudsurely. That’s why I dropped out of my masters program
@@wicket_gate good for you. Just use the money for cosmetic surgery.
@@hanzocloud that's not true, masters degree is a higher level than bachelor, hence why after masters you can do a PHD, but you cannot do a PHD with a bachelor
@@steauafan4ever yes and no. People doing bachelors and master can be in the same class if studying the same subject.. so it’s not really higher level in that regard . It essentially just means the person studied more longer
Heart breaking😢 to watch highlights of these young folks job hunting... wishing🙏🍀🙏 them all improving job/life opportunities in 2024.
this is a global phenomenon i graduated from architecture in australia around 2011. it took me like 10mths to find my first job in architecture in australia. I had work experience of a year beforehand too. but i didnt give up any, was doing whatever i could to stay relevant to my field. now i work in construction and earn a pretty decent living. This is the process.
What unemployed graduates? Ccp just stopped reporting the figures so there's no disaster looming😊
when you leave the university, you enter into the real world. Life after can be very challenging and hard
That's life
Your networth is your network. -Jim Rohn
Before you leave a message, you should know that they are a communist country, and you should know what a communist country means.
Precisely 😂
Knowledge can rewrite your destiny, wow I love that. So true.
I don't attend my graduation ceremony, idk why you'd so proud of it it's just a piece of paper and has nothing to do with how well you'll perform once you hit the real world.
Most unofficial youth unemployment statistics say its the other way round 25% employed and 75% unemployed in a skilled profession they went to university for and most seem to consider this as roughly correct,
Also the well known practice of university's and college's withholding their diploma if they don't have a job that can bump the numbers as there is obviously a fear by these institutions that they will suffer financial problems if 70% to 80% of students can't get a job except a delivery driver,
This is mainly due to the huge number of graduates and basically, the job market is stagnated for this kind of kids. The thing is that when you have a high degree in China people tend to only work on their studies area, not wanting to embark on other career paths, this is a mentality problem, not a structural one. Chinese recovery from COVID-19 was bad only because of the government. they didn't end the lockdowns at the proper time and it was a bit unnecessary to do it. The problem with the job market for the youth is not only in China, just ask how many Europeans or Americans are working on their studies area and then you will see. I want to point out that this is not a straight failure, but it needs to be solved soon. I nearly cried with that girl at the end of the video, I hope she gets a job soon, even just to pay for her necessities.
Everyone wants to work in their studies area, but not everyone can find such a job. These young people have not realized this yet.
@@user-cb3lx4nv4f yes, they should pursue other branches and industries and not getting stuck on that thought they have to land a job in their studies, that's what is driving this youth unemployment, you cannot only blame the government,
40:1 applicants for a gov job is incredibly low. And at least that Masters isn't hindering him, I was told to remove it form my CV because it makes me overqualified- very demoralizing.
Thank you!
This is so unfair. People shouldn't be penalised for needing jobs that dont exist
Simple thing would be for the goverment to invest into entrepreneurship, but they don't want to do that as that would make the popualtion harder to control.
@@OniNekomon What are you talking about? Have you even been to China?
life itself is unfair. deal with it.
@@defaultworkouts ooh what if we used our capacity as a species to transform the world around us to make life more fair by uplifting the needy instead of dealing with it. i like that idea.
The CCP always has a way of putting a positive spin on any bad situation, even when it comes to not releasing the unemployment figures.
Literary flourishes and figures of speech were a mainstay for CCP propaganda even in Mao's times. Can't say that cadres aren't educated!
“We are going to lead the world in creating new forms of improved math & algebra! Just wait till you see how we present our youth unemployment numbers, with our new innovative counting system!!”
@@pushslice Statistics with Chinese characteristics. Unenmployment rate goes negative and sings the Internationale!
meanwhile theres negative propaganda all over the internet about this issue while there are drug ridden towns with zombies in kensington PA (USA) that news outlets dont touch and only independent youtubers cover
@@pushslice Just remove one measly digit from the actual figure and voila, youth unemployment solved!
Great great reportage 👍👍
Nice documentary! Btw, how's the young people/immigrants in Singapore?
When I graduated from university, my cohort and I also faced a tough time with employment due to the usual economic cycles and lack of work experience. It certainly doesn’t help now since so many kids are going into university instead of suitable vocational training. Given that the current global economy is undergoing a major slow down, unprecedented credit pressures, and major geopolitical shifts, are we over hyping this as a unique China problem? Seems like my kids and their peers are in a similar situation here in Canada. Perhaps we can work through this down cycle as a global community as we have done in the past if we stop spending so much time, energy, and resources on global conflicts.
Is banding together to form a co-op startup an option? If these graduates have the skills, why not form their own company as co-partners? They'd have to keep a low-overhead and acquire clients (hopefully giving them repeat business), but it could work if everyone is driven and if they have the resources to pull it off.
startup must have a product that society need not optional, only then it can scale. Also it need to have capital upfront, for marketing, operation, infrastructure, etc.
@@head0fmob True. This is why overhead costs need to stay low. I was picturing an online service-based business and not one selling products, and definitely not a brick-and-morter storefront. They could start an online business where they offer a service that they are skilled in. It'd only take their own labor hours, their laptops, an internet connection, their home office/bedroom, and a business license. It could be a slow start, which is why they need to acquire clients right away. But I think in these cases that I outlined above, it is feasible.
I don't know what services you are talking about but the macro environment factors has kill off alot of opportunities when they decide zero COVID policy.
Services based you would need to be on site to provide end solutions. China being a very big country, remote places such as steep slopes and pot holes are common in countryside areas. Words and ideas are always easy to initiate that's why the Chao yang brothers had to pray and make sure their decision to go countryside has to be a success.
@@user-ri4ch8zj4r The services I'm talking about would be work from home CAD drafting, 3D design & rendering, call center work, transcription services, programming/coding, making a mobile app, website development services, etc.
My heart 😢❤
大丈夫能屈能伸，高等教育輔助知識，但不增長隨機應變，處世之道的常識。I am a Thai, 77 years old, so I can’t speak for other countries. In Thailand, the top entrepreneurs mostly do not have university or even high school education. But so many Ph.D. working for them. Most of them started from bottom up, as street vendors, salesmen ………… in my own generation and social circle, in average, my high school (some even didn’t finish) classmates do better than friends going to universities. Please do not get the wrong message that I discourage university education. What we all need is the fighting spirit and wisdom of survival.
The young generation has a though time. I can see it everywhere. Usa, Europe, Asia. Good luck everyone 👍 keep strong
More than 40% percent of people in Xian, Shaanxi Province can’t find a job
Hi CNA, did you looked carefully at yourself? Are you doing better than your enemy? God bless you ❤
The most interesting part of this video is that the guy xiami wore clothes with ''discarded fantasies and prepared for a fight (丟掉幻想 準備鬥爭)'' written on it.
Saw very credible statistics that have youth unemployment in the suburbs of Beijing and Shanghai at over 40%
Those people just have to accept that too many highly educated people graduate with a BA/MA, there are simply not enough places and they have to apply below your level because you ultimately want/need to earn money, that is realistic.
They also need to consider emigrating out of China.
@@prst99The thing is, not everyone would have the same opportunities to emigrate out as well. If they aren't considered a vital talent domestically, what makes you think companies overseas will accept them as well? Not to mention they will face pushback from the local populace as a result as well.
@@archdraong emigration is not possible for all of them I know. Nothing in life is completely open to everyone. However, the video doesn’t even mention it. It is a viable pathway that they should consider and I am not given the impression they have considered it.
My ancestors took that path and many other highly educated and underemployed Chinese emigrated to great success.
I can understand the frustration. Most of these students are probably the first of their family getting a high education and they grew up hearing that a diploma will garantie them a stable financial futur. Actually, it helps a lot. But think this is a tool and not a fast track to success. So this is rhe first milestone for your search of success. As there are so much applicants, you need to think out of the boxe and honestly even if you finally get a corporate position, the conditions are not the best. I will open my own business or be consulting.
Good video 👍🇬🇧