Jobseekers frustrated as employment worsens

By Tan Yingzi (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-12-20 09:57

A sense of uncertainty is growing among jobseekers as the country faces a worsening employment situation, experts said on Friday.

Financial professionals of Chinese heritage and Chinese people studying or working in the United States meet with recruiters for companies from Shanghai during a recruitment event in Queens, New York, December 13, 2008. [Agencies]

"There is a strong sense of insecurity among migrant workers, college graduates and even white-collar workers amid the global financial crisis," Guo Weiqing, a professor of public administration at Guangzhou's Sun Yat-sen University, told China Daily.

Tens of thousands of migrant workers have lost their jobs in Guangdong province with the closure of factories hit by the crisis.

"It's like an epidemic and everyone is now worried about their jobs," Guo said.

According to the latest survey from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security this week, 4.85 million jobless migrant workers had returned to their hometowns by the end of November, and nationwide, more than 10 million of migrants are currently out of work.

Around 670,000 small firms have closed this year as a result of the global financial crisis, adding to employment pressures, State Council advisor Chen Quansheng told a forum in Beijing on Friday.

About 6.7 million jobs vanished, many in the export hub of Guangdong, pushing unemployment well above the official figure of 8.3 million, Chen said.

"The real figure is much higher than the official statistics, which only report urban registered jobless," he said.

"The major problem in China now is employment, especially for university graduates and young migrant workers," Chen said.

An increasing number of graduates will face a more difficult situation next year. The unemployment rate for new graduates is over 12 percent and 1.5 million of them will be without a job by the end of this year, while 6.1 million more will enter the job market next year, a Chinese Academy of Social Sciences report said.

"Facing such a tough time, young migrant workers and students can easily get emotional or hotheaded and may become a potential threat to social stability," Guo warned.

Li Wei, a CASS researcher on social development, suggested that more social security measures should be introduced to ensure the basic living standards of the jobless.

He also said the NGOs can play a more active role in social relief and vocational training programs.

Agencies contributed to the story