College Graduates’ Unemployment in China
College Graduates’ Unemployment in China 2023.06.14.861
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In China, many youths pin their hopes on the university. 2023 is a year of huge production for Chinese higher education, especially for master and doctor degree programs.
As early as in April, the news came out that in Beijing alone, there would be one 160 thousand master and doctor degree graduates; in contrast, there would be about 136 thousand graduates from undergraduate programs. The number of graduates from master and doctor programs exceeds the number of graduates from undergraduate programs. As for the whole country, the number of master and doctor level graduates is more than one million. This is more than the total number of graduates in the year 2000. As may be expected, master and doctor degree holders, in spite of their high qualifications, are still exposed to the risk of unemployment. Therefore, some experts suggest that it is important not to blindly pursue high academic qualifications. However, could it be that students’ pursuit of high qualification is really a blind personal behavior? Let’s take a look at Balzac’s novel Eugénie Grandet. Old Grandet was so rich that losing a small sum of money did not affect his life at all, but he still grasped the small sum of money and did not let it go, so it can be said that he blindly pursued money. But a poor man, who has only a few pennies, cannot live without those pennies unless he finds a new way to make a living. Can such a man be said to be blindly pursuing money when he still holds on to his pennies?
Nowadays, almost everyone knows that a high level of education qualification does not guarantee that one will be able to find an ideal job, or even that one will be able to find a job. However, almost all young people, as if driven by instinct, still aspire to go to university. Many of them even go all the way from undergraduate to PhD. This does seem blind. However, at a time when competition in the job market is extremely fierce, for those young people who have no power, no money and lack social connections, and who can only rely on their personal efforts, academic qualifications are almost the only capital they can acquire. Unless they find a new way to make a living, there is even less hope for them if they do not hold on to their academic qualifications. Can we still say that they are blind?
As we know, the expansion of China’s college student population began with the expansion of China’s higher education system in 1999, when the government claimed that they wanted to achieve massification of higher education. Massification of higher education is a worldwide trend, a demand and a result of development in economy, science and technology. China’s construction also needs more high-quality talents, especially, at that time, the people’s demand for higher education was far from being met. Yet, until 1999, China’s top policy makers resisted this trend. As late as January, 1998, the official media said that massification of higher education was not suitable for China’s national conditions. But in June, 1999, universities and colleges suddenly began to expand their enrollment, which increased by 47% that year, achieving mass higher education in just four years. Since then, enrollment had continued to expand. It turns out that the Chinese government was racking its brains to stimulate consumption, to cope with the financial crisis in Asia. It just so happened that an economist suggested that it might be a good idea for universities to expand enrollment and charge reasonable tuition fees. As soon as the rulers heard that there was money to be made, their greed was like a raging fire. They hardly made any preparations, when they immediately began to expand university enrolment and raise tuition fees. As for the reasons for the massification of higher education, the Chinese government once openly admitted that it was intended to cope with the impact of the Asian financial crisis. But later, probably feeling that it was really a scandal, they denied that the policy objective was to achieve economic purposes. However, Li Lanqing, the then Vice Premier, left a record in black and white in his memoir. This is a ruthless plunder of the people by the government, which have lasted for more than two decades, and have turned the university dream of countless youths into a nightmare.
The massification of higher education is an inevitable process. In the United States and many other countries, it is a natural trend driven by social and market forces. In China, on the other hand, it is achieved by the government for the sake of its own economic interests. Massification of higher education has been abused. The government and higher education institutions were only focusing on expanding the scale of enrollment. They did not care whether there were enough faculty members, whether their specialties and programs were adapted to the market, and whether their products could meet the demand of the society. While the scale of universities and colleges was expanding drastically, the quality of education could not be guaranteed at all.
The biggest problem was that the government failed to make corresponding arrangements for college graduate employment. Two years after the massification of higher education, China joined the WTO. Consequently, China’s economy was able to grow at a high speed, a large number of foreign-funded enterprises entered the country, and private enterprises were also developed. This created a large number of employment opportunities, which slowed down the problem of unemployment for college graduates. In spite of that, there were still tens of millions of college graduates who were unable to find professional jobs and had to engage in simple manual work in sweatshops. The problem of unemployment among college graduates, so to speak, has existed for a long time, and it is the government’s erroneous policies that have aggravated the problem. To cite an example, primary and secondary schools in the rural areas need a large number of teachers, so that children living in scattered areas may have proper basic education. However, the Government is indifferent to the practical conditions of the countryside. They have forcibly merged or even closed down a large number of rural schools in order to reduce the investment in education. This policy has made it difficult for many college graduates to find stable jobs. It has even more seriously hurt rural children. Many school-age children have to travel long distances to go to school, or live in school dormitories. Many rural children come to the cities where their parents find temporary jobs. They have to go to private schools, where the quality of education is not guaranteed. To cite another example, China’s medical field needs a large number of doctors and nurses. But the government is not willing to invest in it. Education, healthcare and housing are heavy burdens on the people, just like three huge mountains. If the government increased its investment in social welfare, it would not only alleviate the people’s burden, but also provide jobs for more college graduates. However, funds that should have been invested in social welfare have been used to reinforce the military police.
A more prominent example is the real estate industry. The excessive extraction of capital and resources by the real estate industry has led to a serious lack of investment in other industries. Without sufficient investment and development, it is impossible for the manufacturing industries, the high-tech industry in particular, to create job opportunities for college graduates, and for master and doctoral degree holders in particular. It is exactly the Government’s eagerness for quick success and lack of foresight that have led to the overdevelopment of the real estate industry. This leaves insufficient room for the development of the manufacturing and high-tech industries and creates employment difficulties for college graduates.
In addition to the factors mentioned above, the long-term one-child policy and a sharp decline in population have had a particularly severe impact on college graduates. This year, a large number of kindergartens are unable to recruit enough children, which means that a large number of kindergarten teachers are in danger of losing their jobs. Many university students majoring in early childhood education may also lose hope about their employment prospects. Kindergarten teachers are not the only ones who have been affected by the decline in population. Like a domino effect, the problem will gradually spread upwards. Within five years, elementary schools will find it difficult to recruit enough children; ten years from now, there will be a large number of secondary schools that will not be able to recruit students. Perhaps, in less than fifteen years, higher education institutions will also experience an enrollment crisis, and many will have to close; a large number of highly educated professionals will lose their jobs. At the same time, the aggressive foreign policy of the CPC has deteriorated China’s international environment. In addition, during the outbreak of COVID nineteen, the Chinese government arbitrarily closed down the city, which had a significant impact on international supply chains. Ultimately, a large number of international companies withdraw from China, and Chinese industries are rapidly losing international markets. This, coupled with Xi Jinping’s crackdown on private enterprises in recent years, has discouraged many who capitalize on their knowledge, so that they tend to be refrained from investing and growing. Enterprises begin to lay off employees on a large scale, leading to a diminishing demand for college graduates.
The lack of freedom in academia under the rule of the CPC has suppressed the creativity of professionals in universities and colleges, lowering the quality of higher education products. In particular, the government tries to ease the employment pressure on undergraduates by expanding the enrollment of master’s and doctoral students without any regard for the needs of society. For many years, the scale of doctoral training in China has surpassed that of the United States. Most college students are not well informed about the overall situation. Since it is not easy to find a job with a bachelor’s degree, they can only blindly choose to pursue further studies. The many unfavorable factors combine together, resulting in a drastic devaluation of their academic qualifications. For this reason, undergraduates, masters and PhDs are bearing an unbearable heavy burden. The cause lies in government policies, not in individuals. The devaluation of academic qualifications stems from the CPC’s anti-intellectual nature and its contempt for knowledge.
The most unfortunate victims of the devaluation of academic qualifications are those young people at the bottom of the social ladder. Farmers and off-farm workers send their children to college, trying to prevent their children from repeating their own difficult lives. It turns out that they have paid money and time but have gained nothing. Their children can only go back to the original point and engage in simple manual labor. A large number of college graduates, even master’s and doctoral degree holders, can only work as delivery workers and take up unstable employment. A large group called college-graduate-off-farm workers has emerged in society. It is the series of policies formulated by the CPC that have reduced them to poverty, in spite of their effort to get out of poverty.
Many college graduates try to increase their competitiveness in employment by improving their academic qualifications. Maybe they fail to realize that they are being subjected to a plunder unprecedented in Chinese history. The devaluation of currency deprives the people of their material wealth, while the devaluation of academic qualifications deprives the students of their youth and lives. It has been more than two decades since the massification of higher education was launched in nineteen ninety-nine, when the people have been subjected to continuous plunder. When all other capitals have been plundered, it is not blind that college students from the lower class still pin their hopes on cultural capital. When even cultural capital has been plundered, the focus is still on personal factors and on the job market, without sufficient attention to the macro environment, let alone profound reflection, this, is the real blindness.
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