Employing New Tactics

　　Although Lu Xiaofeng, a 25-year-old masterdegree candidate, had prepared for the employment ratrace, she didn’t expect to receive any job offers until theend of May, after the peak season for job-hunting hadpassed.

　　“Since last October, I have handed out countlessresumes and had no less than 20 interviews, but I onlygot one offer from a small local private company,” Lu,who studies law at Anhui University, told ChinAfrica.

　　Lu is one of the many frustrated job-huntersin Chinathis year. Due to the rapid expansion of college enrollmentover the past 13 years, the number of collegegraduates in China has quadrupled, making 2013 thehardest job-hunting season in the nation’s history. Aslowing economy has exacerbated the situation.

　　Tough times

　　The number of Chinese university graduates has risenover the past years. China’s Ministry of Human Resourcesand Social Security reports that 6.99 millionstudents will graduate from university this summer,190,000 more than in 2012, setting a new record sincethe founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.

　　The number of students graduating college each yearhas increased by nearly 1 million in the four years sincethe number first broke 6 million in 2009.

　　As the number of graduates has increased, demandfor entry level workers is declining. MyCOS Data, aBeijing-based research institute that studies China’shigher education and employment, estimates that jobvacancies fell by roughly 15 percent in 2013, accordingto a survey of 500 companies conducted in February ofthis year.

　　“In the past, we generally recruited about1,000 fresh graduates on average every year.However, this year we will employ only 500new graduates at most,” Jiang Min, whoworks in JAC Motor’s Human ResourcesDepartment, told ChinAfrica.

　　The rising number of graduates anddeclining number of job offers has resultedin a low job contract signing rate, one ofthe most important indexes of employment.

　　In early May, only 33.6 percent ofcollege students in Beijing, the location ofmost of China’s top universities, had signedjob contracts. Further south in Shanghai,the figure was 44.4 percent, down about 2percentage points from a year ago. And in GuangdongProvince, China’s industrial powerhouse, only 47 percenthad signed job contracts.

　　Despite this bleak employment situation, graduatesmajoring in manufacturing as well as electrical and informationengineering have had an easier time finding employment,according to MyCOS Data. But students whomajored in English, law, computer science and technology,accounting, international economy and trade, andbusiness management are battling to get a job and starttheir careers.

　　Economic impact

　　Besides the rising number of graduates and fierce jobcompetition, tepid economic growth and an industrialstructure that is unable to absorb sufficient numbersof new graduates also contributed to this year’s highemployment pressure. “Employment of college studentshas been an issue for years. But the slack economicsituation has added to the pressure this year,” said XiongBingqi, Vice President of the 21st Century EducationResearch Institute.

　　After the nation’s economy grew by doubledigits over the past decade, China’s GDPgrowth slowed to 7.8 percent in 2012. TheReport on the Work of the Governmentdelivered by then Premier Wen Jiabao inMarch 2013 announced the reduction ofthe GDP growth target to 7.5 percent. Thelatest statistics released by the ChineseNational Bureau of Statistics showedthat the nation’s GDP growth slowed to7.7 percent in the first quarter of 2013, ayear-on-year decrease of 0.4 percentagepoints. Every drop of 1 percentage pointin GDP growth means the loss of morethan 1 million jobs, according to experts.

　　Yang Yansui, Director of the Employ-ment and Social Security Research Center at TsinghuaUniversity’s School of Public Policy and Management,believes that the unbalanced structure of China’s economyis also a major reason for the employment difficultiesfacing college graduates. The economic imbalance hasresulted in structural unemployment, with a shortage oftechnical workers and an oversupply of candidates withcollege diplomas.

　　“Our company has suffered from a shortageoftechnical workers even when the business climate is inpoor condition,” said Zhang Jing, Chief of the HumanResource Department at Hanwan Manufacturing Co. Ltd.About 80 percent of the employees in this Hebei-basedmanufacturer of electronic devices were technicalworkers.

　　Restructuring the economy

　　The fact that college graduates aren’t meeting thedemands of China’s economy has urged the nation torestructure its economy to absorb more of its well-educatedworkforce. “The primary and secondary industrieshave limited capacities for employment as technologicaladvances will decrease the demand for workers. Incontrast, the service sector is much more capable ofabsorbing a large number of workers with higher education,”Yang said, suggesting that the nation’s service sectorbe promoted as the country undergoes economictransformation.

　　Experts have also pointed out that China’s universitiesare churning out law and accounting majors, whileaccounting and law firms don’t need large numbersof staff. “I think universities should set up coursesaccording to the actual demands of the economy’sstructure,” said Xiong.

　　Starting a self-owned business is another possiblecareer option for new graduates. “New businesses notonly provide employment for the founder, but also offeropportunities to others,” said Li Jiahua, Deputy Directorof the Commission for Entrepreneur Education in HigherEducation Institutes under China’s Ministry of Education,noting that an entrepreneur who starts their own businesscreates 3.8 jobs on average.

　　Su Songxing, an expert on education, suggested thatuniversities should emphasize entrepreneurial thinkingand education to cultivate students’ entrepreneurialabilities. “Universities can work together to provide informationand advice on starting businesses, like preferentialpolicies on taxation and loans, government subsidiesand procedures for registering a business,” he said. CA

　　Economic restructuring needed as job seekers’ qualifications don’t match market demands By Hou Weili