China is facing a labor crisis as graduates are rejecting any kind of blue-collar work, even highly paid technical jobs, the Mainland Affairs Council said in a report that said stagnant social mobility and conspicuous wealth contributed to swelling the ranks of dispossessed young people in the country.
The council last month published an analysis of China’s work environment in a report written by National Chengchi University assistant professor of sociology Chiang Yi-lin (姜以琳).
Greater access to higher education in China has made it difficult to fill blue-collar job vacancies, exacerbating a poor labor outlook already challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic, international affairs and cooling economic growth, the report found.
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Nearly 10.76 million graduates are expected to enter the job market this autumn, setting a record that is expected to continue to rise in the years to come, it said.
Despite these record numbers, unemployment among graduates has not improved over the past decade, while the supply of professional jobs has not grown to meet demand, it said.
“Some people do not have jobs and some jobs do not have people,” the report cited academics as saying, with college graduates shunning certain jobs.
In response, researchers are calling for young people to be re-educated to instill the view that “there is no such thing as a good or bad job,” it said.
The Chinese Ministry of Education intends to solve the issue through improved vocational education, but factory work — even highly paid technical jobs — are still considered blue-collar and therefore unattractive to college graduates, the report said.
Graduates prefer white-collar jobs, not only because they are considered higher class, but also because of their shorter hours, less demanding work and potential for advancement, it said.
In contrast, factory work is often more physically demanding and requires longer hours in worse working environments, making it less attractive, despite offering higher salaries, it said.
Many young people have responded by “lying flat” (tangping, 躺平), a popular online buzzword for living simply with few desires that has raised alarm among authorities, the report said.
Although it originated in China, the “lying flat” culture has also appeared in places where social inequality is prevalent and property is difficult to buy, such as Taiwan and the US, it said.
In Taiwan, as elsewhere in East Asia, many young people are required to work overtime without sufficient compensation, the report said.
Young people worldwide are facing the same problem and responding the same way, whether they are Chinese “lying flat,” Taiwanese finding “small fortunes” or Americans refusing to buy real estate, it added.
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