Is China’s ‘slow employment’ surge just another way of saying more graduates are ‘lying flat’?

In Shanghai, more young adults are showing a lack of urgency in securing work after earning a university degree, and the ‘problematic’ trend is draining parents’ resources
Central leadership sometimes uses controversial terms, including ‘flexible employment’ and ‘full-time children’ when discussing China’s job market

China jobs

Luna Sunin Beijing

Published: 12:00pm, 26 Sep 2023

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Don’t call them “unemployed”. They’re just a bit “slow”.

That’s the latest message out of Shanghai, where more than a third of fresh college graduates without jobs are said to be engaged in “slow employment”, according to survey findings that come at a time when China’s youth-unemployment rate has got so high that authorities aren’t releasing it any more.

“Slow employment”, which reflects a lack of urgency in finding a job after graduation, often with intentions to pursue further education, has more than doubled in Shanghai over the past eight years, rising from 15.9 per cent when the term was first used in 2015 to 38 per cent this year.

The findings were released this month by the Shanghai branch of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) after more than 4,000 university graduates were polled in the economic hub in April – the height of the spring hiring season for those who wanted to enter the job market right after graduation.

Across China, dire work prospects in a faltering economy have seen job offers dwindle, and the nation’s monthly jobless rate among those aged 16-24 surpassed 21 per cent before authorities decided to withhold the July rate, citing the need for a recalibration.

Shanghai boasts some of the top universities in the country and accounts for about 2 per cent of China’s 11.58 million college graduates this year.

The worsening youth joblessness is rooted in the country’s weak economic recovery following the pandemic, with dwindling export orders and foreign investment; shrinking consumer demand; and debt-ridden local governments – lingering scars from three years under China’s restrictive zero-Covid policy.

Among those opting for “slow employment” in the Chinese megacity, 32 per cent intended to continue their studies, and 6 per cent were simply postponing employment. Out of everyone polled, 57 per cent had chosen to directly enter the job market in 2023, the NBS said.

05:18

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The percentage of those who were delaying employment without specific plans had increased fivefold compared with 2015, from 1.2 per cent to 6 per cent, the survey showed.

Wang Dan, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank China, said: “Slow employment doesn’t equal unemployment, they are the discouraged workers – those who have decided to lie flat.”

Wang noted that many families have the financial means to support their children, but if children depend on that support for too long, it can be problematic. Parents’ pensions and resources are limited, and they may not be able to afford to let their children lie flat at home for too long, Wang explained.

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“Domestic pressure might increase motivation to find a job,” she said. “As a result, there may be fewer people in the ‘slow employment’ category now,” compared with five months ago when the survey was conducted.

A statement accompanying the Shanghai survey results said that “after three years of coronavirus-control measures and online classes, the new batch of fresh graduates lacks internship experience and interpersonal communication skills, posing challenges for graduates”.

To skirt the worrisome social issue, Beijing has spoken of “flexible employment” and “light employment”, both controversial terms used by authorities to refer to those working freelancing or part-time gigs instead of a full-time job.

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There are also “full-time children”, or “paid children” – jobless adults who live with their parents and provide services such as housework. Those people are not included in the youth-unemployment figures, as they are not actively searching for jobs.

Meanwhile, as young people struggle to find work in the hard-hit private sectors, civil servant positions have become exceedingly popular, as they are considered much more secure.

Nearly 2.6 million have signed up for the 2023 national public servants exam in November, the most in nearly a decade. But with only 37,100 positions available, some of the most popular ones will receive nearly 6,000 applicants.