China's youth face bleak job market as COVID slows economy

BEIJING (AP) — Liu Qian, job-hunting with a new master's degree, said two employers interviewed her and then said the positions had been eliminated. Others asked her to take lower pay.

She is one of 11 million new graduates desperate for work in a bleak job market as anti-virus controls force factories, restaurants and other employers to close. The survivors are cutting jobs and wages.

“Am I not worth it?” Liu asked. “From the moment I started looking for a job, I felt as if my future were smashed by a machine, and I don’t know if I can piece it together.”

Liu, 26, said some employers balked when she asked for a monthly salary of 8,000 yuan ($1,200). The average graduate last year was paid the equivalent of 9,800 yuan ($1,500) per month, according to Liepin, a job-hunting platform.

There were almost two graduates competing for every job opening in the three months ending in June, up from 1.4 the previous quarter, according to the China Institute for Employment Research and Zhaopin.com, another job-hunting website.

China’s job drought echoes the struggles of young people worldwide to find work in depressed economies but is especially sensitive politically in a year when President Xi Jinping is expected to try to extend his time in power.

Graduates often come from urban families who are the biggest winners from China’s economic growth, an important source of political support. The ruling party needs them, especially those with technical training, to start their careers to propel industry development.

Luckily, a publishing house hired Liu in late July, two months after her graduation.

The official unemployment rate in June for people aged 16 to 24 was almost 20%, compared with 5.5% for all ages. That is expected to rise once the latest graduates are taken into account.

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