BEIJING (Reuters) - Rising unemployment in China is pushing millions of college graduates into a tough bargain, with some forced to accept low-paying work or even subsist on their parents’ pensions, a plight that has created a new working class of “rotten-tail kids”.
The phrase has become a social media buzzword this year, drawing parallels to the catchword “rotten-tail buildings” for the tens of millions of unfinished homes that have plagued China’s economy since 2021.
A record number of college graduates this year are hunting for jobs in a labour market depressed by COVID-19-induced disruptions as well as regulatory crack-downs on the country’s finance, tech and education sectors.
The jobless rate for the roughly 100 million Chinese youth aged 16-24 crept above 20% for the first time in April last year. When it hit an all-time high of 21.3% in June 2023, officials abruptly suspended the data series to reassess how numbers were compiled.
I am in my mid-thirties with a very good MSc and I am working as a labourer, I am not Chinese.
If you’re in the US start applying for Civil Service jobs. City, state or federal.
You won’t get hired quickly, but when you do get hired you’ll have a great union and solid benefits.
I’m in the UK, not a bad idea though!
I try not to be ‘that American’ who thinks everything works the same all around the globe.
Good luck