China’s youth league to tackle graduate job pressure with advice, aid and a chance to ‘toughen’ up
- Amid growing concern about the labour market, China’s Communist Youth League says it will help at least 100,000 graduates find jobs this year
- A record 10.76 million graduates will be fighting for fewer jobs, as the economy faces pressures ranging from the coronavirus to slowing exports
China’s Communist Youth League has vowed to help find employment for the country’s record number of graduates this year, who are about to enter what economists are calling the most challenging job market yet.
The youth league, which is often seen as a training ground for the next generation of party leaders, said on its official WeChat platform on Wednesday it would assist at least 100,000 graduates to find jobs this year.
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Helping graduates from less-renowned schools and low-income families will be one focus for the youth league.
Youth league branches at universities have been encouraged to connect students to at least two potential employers. So far, 31,000 youth league members have been paired with 97,000 students struggling to find jobs. Some 41,000 of them have successfully found employment.
The announcement also pointed to the important role rural civil services and communities can play in absorbing unemployed graduates.
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“Grass roots projects are an important platform for college students to toughen and grow, it is also a transition to ease employment pressure,” the youth league said.
These grass roots projects refer to volunteer missions in China’s west, an economically undeveloped and largely rural region, where graduates work in education, medicine, agriculture and poverty alleviation for one to three years. Volunteers are offered a small subsidy for living expenses.
This year the “Western project” will recruit and dispatch 36,700 graduates, the announcement said.
Subsidies will also be extended to rural entrepreneurship projects initiated by students who have graduated within the past two years. Each project will receive financial aid of 20,000 yuan (US$3,000), with at least 3,000 initiatives receiving funding each year.
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The youth league called on organisations such as China Foundation for Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment to provide better help for college entrepreneurs, which would create more jobs.
The jobless rate for the 16-24 age group continued to climb to a record 18.4 per cent in May, up from 18.2 per cent a month earlier.
Further employment pressure is likely to come with more than 10 million students graduating this year, NBS spokesman Fu Linghui said.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has warned of a “grim” outlook for the job market, urging provincial governments to take stronger action to stabilise employment ahead of the 20th Party Congress.
Many local governments have unveiled job support measures and subsidies to help or attract new graduates.
The southeastern city of Fuzhou is offering a year’s free board for non-locals who have graduated within three years as long as they are interning, working or searching for jobs.
Elsewhere, Shanghai’s Communist Youth League arranged a job fair last month with nearly 100,000 opportunities for college graduates.
