China created 2.29 million new urban jobs in the first quarter of 2020, according to Lu Aihong, spokesman of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.
Due to the impact of the measures aimed at containing the COVID-19 outbreak, such as the lockdown of cities and stay-at-home orders, there were about 1 million fewer jobs than the same period last year. The situation may be even worse in the second quarter and the latter part of this year since more than 8.74 million graduates (400,000 more than last year) will enter into the country’s job market in the coming months. However, talent demands among high-tech, private, small- and medium-sized enterprises in China have dropped dramatically as they have been hit hardest by the outbreak.
Governments at various levels should pay special attention to the employment of college graduates. After investing years of study and large sums of money on higher education, such young and well-educated persons bear higher expectations from their families and society at large.
While encouraging private, foreign-funded and high-tech companies in China to recruit college graduates as much as possible, under special circumstances, State-owned enterprises should be required by the government to allocate a certain percentage of their employment quotas to fresh graduates this year. Meanwhile, financial subsidies can be offered to micro, small- and medium-sized firms for each graduate they hire.
China is now accelerating the construction of new infrastructure. Unlike traditional heavy-asset projects such as railways, highways and airports, new infrastructure mainly focuses on digital transformation and innovative industries. Big spending on new infrastructure is a key move to counterbalance the impact of the pandemic and is in line with the Chinese Government’s aim to transform the country from an export-oriented manufacturing economy to one driven by innovation and high technology.
In the digital and innovative technology sectors, online medical care, entertainment, education and e-commerce are witnessing many new business opportunities because of the pandemic and social distancing requirements. As for graduates, there is growing demand for artificial intelligence, smart logistics, the Internet of Things, commercial use of 5G, telecommunications, electronics and other Internet-related industries which are supported by the application of new technologies.
Recent graduates should also be encouraged to join the military ranks or apply for jobs at grass-roots governments and in the country’s relatively poorer areas. Such measures would not only offer an important employment channel for the jobseekers, but also quickly improve the governance capabilities of the military and rural governments in the country’s poorest regions, as well as the educational level of servicemen and government employees in those areas.
With the quick spread of the virus across the world, especially in Europe and the United States, many important international exams such as TOEFL and IELTS have been canceled for the time being. Facing a grim and complex uncertainty, many Chinese graduates who originally planned to further their studies abroad have to change or postpone their overseas learning plans. Nevertheless, Chinese universities can, to some extent, expand the enrollment of students pursuing master’s and doctoral degrees, so as to provide a buffer zone and satisfactory alternative for graduates who are rushing to the job markets.
Last but not least, graduates can also be encouraged to be self-employed and start their own businesses in cities and especially in rural areas. Good startup projects and incubation centers should be supported by the government in various forms such as tax exemption, interest-free loans, low-price rental housing, mentoring service and other preferential policies, so as to relieve the financial burden of young entrepreneurs.
(The author is the editor-in-chief of Shenzhen Daily with a Ph.D. from the Journalism and Communication School of Wuhan University.)