Last Update: May 01, 2023, 12:24 PM IST
This photo taken on August 26, 2022 shows a woman using her phone during a job fair in Beijing. (Credits: AFP)
Unemployment among urban youth aged 16 to 24 rose sharply to 19.6 per cent in March this year, the second highest level on record.
Amid record unemployment rates in China, the country’s richest province has come up with a unique, yet controversial, solution to employ youth – sending the 300,000 unemployed youth population to rural areas to find work.
China’s Guangdong province, a manufacturing hub neighboring Hong Kong, said it would help college graduates and young entrepreneurs find work in villages, reports CNN.
The province encouraged rural youth to return to the countryside to seek jobs there.
The announcement comes after Chinese President Xi Jinping in December 2022 called for urban youth to look for jobs in rural areas to revive the rural economy.
Beijing launched a similar campaign under former leader Mao Zedong in which tens of millions of urban youth were deported to remote areas of China.
heading to china social instability in the form of unemployment has reached historic levels. Continuing youth unemployment records as 11.58 million students have graduated from universities and colleges this year.
According to ANI, unemployment among urban youth aged 16 to 24 years rose sharply to 19.6 per cent in March this year, the second highest level on record from 18.1 per cent in February.
Statistics show that there are about 11 million unemployed youth in China’s cities and towns.
The rising rate of unemployment among young people is mainly due to China’s economic slowdown. Slow manufacturing and weak IT sector are believed to be the reason behind this persistent problem.
Last month, the Communist Youth League criticized young graduates for refusing to “get down to the factories” and urged them to “take off your suits, roll up your sleeves, and go to the farm”, in a report in the Financial Times. Having said.
However, many people in China are mocking the government on social media for failing to create enough jobs for the growing number of educated youth.
Fears about social mobility are prompting some young people to challenge traditional norms regarding families and employment. The Chinese youth population is picking up on the “tang ping” or “lay flat” movement, which promotes doing the bare minimum rather than working hard for long-term returns.
There is also the “moonshine clan”, a group of young Chinese who deliberately live paycheck to paycheck, shopping for luxury items like vacations abroad to make up for the long-term desperation.
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