China: Record 9 million fresh graduates to pass out this year, but job prospect looks bleak

More than 9 million students will graduate from Chinese universities in 2021, a record high. Although the employment environment is still complicated and arduous, all departments will work together to ensure stable employment, the Ministry of Education said at a news conference as quoted by Global Times.

Observers noted that although China's working-age population continues to decline, there will be no labor crisis in the short term, and the employment pressure on young people will remain huge, the newspaper reported.

With a total of 9.09 million college students expected to graduate this year, the figures show it is a slight rise of 350,000 over 2020.

Tong Yufen, a professor at the Population and Economics Institute of the Capital University of Economics and Business, told Global Times that China's sustained economic growth and its level of development in recent years may actually reduce the absorption of labor in various sectors, further increasing the employment pressure on young people.

"According to the demand level of the labor force, the quality of the labor force should be improved, workers' relevant skills and knowledge in various industries should be increased, and the spatial distribution of the labor force should be rationally guided," Tong said at a seminar on Tuesday.