Yet Crystal\u2019s stellar CV left her with just one realistic postgrad option: a master\u2019s degree in economics and management, and two more years before she could enter the workforce.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no guarantee\u201d of a job out of undergrad anymore, Crystal said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time we graduated, the economic outlook was pretty dismal. The Peking University class of 2014 might have got a decent job and lived a comfortable life no matter what after graduating, but it\u2019s not like that for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n Crystal\u2019s situation reflects the struggles that recent college graduates \u2013 even top performers from China\u2019s elite institutions \u2013 face while navigating the country\u2019s post-pandemic job market.<\/p>\n \u201cIt isn\u2019t just that recent cohorts of undergraduates from elite institutions couldn\u2019t find high-paying jobs,\u201d said Nancy Qian, an economics professor at Northwestern University\u2019s Kellogg School of Management. <\/p>\n \u201cThey were fighting really hard to get a pretty mediocre-paying job \u2013 meaning that the money wouldn\u2019t be enough to live independently.\u201d<\/p>\n Since the coronavirus pandemic brought the Chinese economy to a crashing halt, followed by a plodding, uneven recovery, newly minted graduates in China have faced a daunting labour market marred by layoffs and downsizing.<\/p>\n As more and more Chinese students graduate each June to fill fewer and fewer spots, top-paying private sector firms have pivoted to mostly recruiting those with master\u2019s degrees, according to students and experts.<\/p>\n Alumni of China\u2019s top undergraduate programmes have long flocked to graduate school: around 80% of Peking University graduates each year elect to continue their education. <\/p>\n But rather than earning a master\u2019s to guarantee a higher future salary, students are now pursuing graduate degrees simply to secure a job, Qian said.<\/p>\n Even that may not be enough. <\/p>\n \u201cMany people mistakenly assume that once they have a graduate degree, they will receive a golden key to employment,\u201d wrote a 2023 report from Zhaopin, one of China\u2019s largest online recruitment platforms. <\/p>\n \u201cBut in reality, that only buys a ticket to entry. Whether you can land a good job still depends on your abilities \u2026 having academic qualifications is the bare minimum needed for job searchers, not an advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n More Chinese students are also pursuing graduate degrees from domestic institutions in comparison to years past. <\/p>\n At Beijing\u2019s Tsinghua University \u2013 consistently ranked the best university in the nation \u2013 54% of the class of 2013 chose to commit to a Chinese graduate programme. By 2022, that figure rose to 66%, according to Tsinghua\u2019s postgraduation outcome reports.<\/p>\n At Peking, 48% of the class of 2019 enrolled in a Chinese master\u2019s or PhD. For the class of 2024, that number was 66%.<\/p>\n Students now think, \u201c\u2018If employers have increasingly high requirements, then I have to meet those requirements. So getting a graduate degree has become something I need to do,\u2019\u201d said Dong Jiachen, a recent graduate of the sociology master\u2019s programme at Peking University.<\/p>\n Like Crystal, Dong knew that she wanted to work in the private sector \u2013 and that earning a master\u2019s would be just the start.<\/p>\n \u201cEven before beginning the job search, you need to complete a number of internships, obtain the relevant certifications, practice for the written tests you\u2019ll be given by employers and so on,\u201d said Dong, who worked six internships before landing a fulltime job at Meituan, China\u2019s DoorDash equivalent, this year.<\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n Since China began liberalising its economy in the late 1970s, the country has experienced bouts of unemployment, Qian said. But \u201cthe thing that was really surprising for this wave of hardships of the job market is that it hit the people who are usually considered the safest, which is the elite educated,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Many recent graduates who have worked hard to propel themselves into elite institutions are \u201cdispirited\u201d, Qian said. <\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s a question of, \u2018What was the point of it all? Why do we work so hard? Maybe we should just give up.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Would-be employees are also now demanding more from their workplaces, said Lily Liu, the former chief executive of a Chinese online recruitment platform with around 100,000 users. <\/p>\n \u201cRecent graduates\u2019 expectations are now multifaceted \u2013 expectations for the corporate environment, the industry values, the salary, the distance from home, the location. If these expectations are not met, recent graduates give up and go back to school.\u201d<\/p>\n Qi Mingyao, founder and chief executive of Ruihua, a Beijing-based telecommunications firm, pointed to the wider issue of degree inflation in China. <\/p>\n AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhen I entered college in \u201992, 100% of undergraduates could find jobs after graduating, and good jobs at that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cNow, the graduate students of today are like the undergraduates of back then, and the undergraduates of today are like the vocational students of back then.\u201d<\/p>\n Ruihua downsized from around 60 employees before the pandemic to around 20 employees now and has not hired anyone in the past few years because of the state of the economy, according to Qi. <\/p>\n If the company were to begin hiring again, Qi said he would seek out graduates with master\u2019s degrees. \u201cWe would be looking to develop our software, and graduate degree holders would have more specialised skills than undergraduate degree holders.\u201d<\/p>\n The labour market downturn could lead to cascading demographic consequences for China.<\/p>\n The next generation of would-be parents \u201cdon\u2019t think they have money to get married and start a family\u201d, Qian said. <\/p>\n