Even a master’s degree from a top Hong Kong university and a string of impressive internships have not been enough to help Jethro Chen land a decent graduate job.
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The final-year marketing student sent out dozens of applications to Chinese internet and consumer goods companies last year, but got nothing back except a folder full of polite rejection emails.
With his attempts to land a marketing internship in Hong Kong also ending in failure, Chen has been forced to push back his graduation from the Chinese University of Hong Kong by several months while he regroups.
“Fast-moving consumer goods just aren’t selling,” he sighed. “Consumers have become more rational and cautious with their spending.”
Chen is one of tens of millions of highly educated young Chinese who are facing unprecedented barriers to launching their careers, as a perfect storm of domestic and global economic headwinds leads Chinese employers to slash hiring for entry-level roles.
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China’s youth unemployment rate shot up during the Covid-19 pandemic and has remained high ever since, with the country’s economy – hamstrung by weak consumer demand and a prolonged real estate slump – struggling to create enough high-quality jobs to absorb a ballooning number of graduates.
In April, the jobless rate for 16 to 24-year-olds fell to 15.8 per cent, down from 16.5 per cent the previous month. But the figure is still higher than it was at the same time last year – and is set to soar again in the summer as a record 12.22 million fresh graduates enter the job market.