Graduates need better support

Next year, university graduates may face an unprecedented employment crisis, especially because government policies to provide them with jobs have been trapped in a vicious cycle, says an article in China Youth Daily. Excerpts:

Last year, when the economic crisis took the world by storm, the Chinese government began restructuring the labor market so that it could absorb more workers. Many positions, such as village official and community officer, were created to ease the pressure of unemployment. But still many graduates are without jobs, and more will be added to their number next year.

In a developing country like China, industrial upgrades are still quite limited, because of which the demand for white-collar workers doesn't rise as sharply as their numbers. To get a proper job is the dream of most of the college students, who study for at least 15 years so that they can change their fate.

Instead of devising college education to suit the demands of the labor market, we have undergone a decade of blind expansion.

As is well known, private enterprises are the main job channels for graduates. But now the government is squeezing them out by investing large amounts of money in large State-owned enterprises. Take the media sector for example. Although private companies are the most vigorous part of the industry, they are constantly thwarted by government policies and taxes.

This has created a vicious cycle. The government tries to overcome the economic crisis and absorb surplus workers into its departments. But its policies have disadvantaged private enterprises because of which they have not been able to employ as many college graduates as they should have, which in turn has added to the pressure on the government.

(China Daily 11/27/2009 page9)