China’s college graduates to hit record high 11.79 million in 2024, adding to job market pressure
- Number of college graduates in China is expected to reach 11.79 million next year amid high unemployment within the 16-24 age group
- Analysts say Beijing should seek to revitalise the services sector to boost jobs, while China’s education ministry has introduced 26 measures to boost employment
China’s job market is set to face a renewed challenge next year, with a record number of college students about to graduate, prompting analysts to urge Beijing to increase efforts in restoring confidence in the private sector.
Beijing has been under pressure to create enough jobs amid an uneven post-Covid recovery, which has been dragged down by the protracted slump in the property market and a weak private sector.
China’s college graduates exceeded 10 million for the first time in 2022.
“Companies will inevitably scale back their hiring needs, to reduce employment costs under the current economic uncertainties, especially the young inexperienced college graduates,” said Mao Yufei, an associate researcher with the China Institute for Employment Research.
And at a time when the services sector is facing various headwinds, and while factories are short of labour, young people generally prefer white-collar jobs over blue-collar, with this structural imbalance exacerbating the employment problems, Mao added.
Colleges should, according to Mao, fully utilise the internet to provide graduates with updated job information and build more platforms to provide career planning courses.
We need a more predictable, stable policy environment, and also we need them to remove these policy distortions
Apart from bolstering advanced and hi-tech sectors, Beijing should also increase efforts to revitalise the private sector to release the potential of new jobs, Haibin Zhu, chief china economist and head of Greater China economic research at JPMorgan, said last week.
“Actually the most important, or number one policy action is to restore the confidence among the small and medium-sized enterprises sector,” said Zhu.
“It is not necessary about fiscal support, but more about the transparent and predictable policy environment.
“We have seen a lot of the policy swings in recent years, so we need a more predictable, stable policy environment, and also we need them to remove these policy distortions.”
It also encouraged college graduates to utilise the emerging market needs from internet platforms to seek entrepreneurship or flexible employment.
The ministry also asked universities to employ staff specialising in employment counselling, while also requiring university staff to conduct more visits to companies to assess the needs of the job market.
