China is now a country where a high school teacher has a master’s degree in physics; the cleaner is qualified for environmental protection planning; the delivery driver studied philosophy and earned a doctorate at the prestigious Tsinghua University, eventually applying for a job as an auxiliary police officer.
These are real cases in a failing economy – and it’s not hard to find more.
“My dream job was to work in investment banking,” Sun Zhan says as he prepares to start his shift as a waiter at a hot pot restaurant in the southern city of Nanjing.
The 25-year-old recently graduated with a master’s degree in finance. He hoped to “make a lot of money” in a well-paid position, but adds: “I looked for such a job, but without good results.”
China churns out millions of graduates every year, but in some fields there simply aren’t enough jobs for them.
The economy is struggling and stalling in major sectors, including real estate and manufacturing.
Youth unemployment was 20% before the way the numbers were measured was changed to make the situation look better. In August 2024, it was still 18.8%. The latest figure for November fell to 16.1%.
Many graduates who found it difficult to find work in their chosen field of study are now working jobs far below what they are qualified for, leading to criticism from family and friends.
When Sun Zhan became a waiter, his parents met with displeasure.
“My family’s opinions are a big concern for me. After all, I studied for many years and went to a pretty good school,” he says.
He says that his family is embarrassed by his choice of job and that he would prefer to try to become a civil servant or an official, but, he adds, “it’s my choice.”
However, he has a secret plan. He will use his time working as a waiter to learn the restaurant business so that he can eventually open his own restaurant.
He thinks the critics in his family will have to change their minds if he ends up running a successful business.
“The job situation is really, really challenging in mainland China, so I think a lot of young people have to really adjust their expectations,” says Professor Zhang Jun of the City University of Hong Kong.
She says that many students seek higher degrees to have better prospects, but then the reality of the work environment hits them.
“The job market was really tough,” says 29-year-old Wu Dan, who is currently an intern at a sports injury massage clinic in Shanghai.
“For many of my classmates from the master’s degree, this is the first time they are looking for a job, and very few of them end up finding one.”
She also didn’t think she would end up here with a degree in finance from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Before that, she worked for a futures trading company in Shanghai, where she specialized in agricultural products.
When she returned to the mainland after finishing her studies in Hong Kong, she wanted to work in a private equity firm and received some offers, but was not satisfied with the conditions.
The fact that she didn’t accept any of them and started training in sports medicine instead was not welcomed by her family.
“They thought I had such a good job before, and my education is quite competitive. They didn’t understand why I chose a low-barrier job that required me to do manual labor for little money.”
She admits she couldn’t survive in Shanghai on her current salary if her partner didn’t own the house.
At first, she didn’t know anyone who was supportive of her current career path, but her mother came around after recently treating her for a sore back, significantly reducing the pain she was feeling.
The former finance student now says she feels that working life in the investment world is not for her after all.
She says she is interested in sports injuries, loves work and one day wants to open her own clinic.
Chinese graduates are being forced to change their perceptions of what might be considered a “good position”, says Professor Zhang.
In what could be considered a “warning sign” for young people, “many companies in China, including many tech companies, have laid off a lot of staff,” she adds.
He also says that significant areas of the economy, which used to be major employers of graduate students, offer substandard conditions, and decent opportunities in these areas are disappearing.
While figuring out what to do in the future, unemployed graduates have also turned to the film and television industry.
Big-budget movies need a lot of extras to fill out their scenes, and in China’s famous film production city of Hengdian, southwest of Shanghai, there are plenty of young people looking for acting jobs.
“I mostly stand next to the protagonist as eye candy. I’ve been seen next to the main actors, but I’m speechless,” says Wu Xinghai, who studied electronic information engineering and played a bodyguard in the drama.
The 26-year-old laughs that his good looks helped him get a job as an extra.
He says people often come to Hengdian and work for just a few months. He says that this is a temporary solution for him as well, until he finds something permanent. “I don’t earn much, but I’m relaxed and I feel free.”
“This is the situation in China, isn’t it? The moment you graduate, you become unemployed,” said Li, who did not want to give his name.
He graduated in film direction and screenwriting, and signed up for a few months of work as an extra.
“I came here to look for a job while I’m still young. When I’m old, I’ll find a stable job.”
But many fear that they will never find a decent job and may have to settle for a role that is not what they imagined.
A lack of confidence in the trajectory of China’s economy means that young people often do not know what the future holds.
Wu Dan says that even her friends who are busy can feel quite lost.
“They are quite confused and feel that the future is unclear. Those who have a job are not happy with it. They don’t know how long they can stay in those positions. And if they lose their current job, what else can they do?”
He says he will just “go with the flow and gradually explore what I really want to do”.
