Surge in Teacher Certification Acquisition Amid China's Employment Crisis

Even with Certification, Employment is Like a Needle's Eye... Competition Ratio 30 to 1
End of the Teacher's Job Security Era Pointed Out... 10.62 Million Newborns vs. 11.44 Million Applicants

[Asia Economy Senior Reporter Cho Young-shin] This year, the number of applicants for the Chinese teacher certification exam has exceeded 11.44 million, sparking a fever for obtaining teacher certificates across the Chinese mainland. This phenomenon is interpreted as a social consequence of employment difficulties caused by the slowdown in China's growth rate, as well as a kind of middle-income trap where stable jobs are preferred.

Photo by Baidu capture

According to Chinese media Hongxing News on the 7th, the total number of applicants for the Chinese teacher certification exam this year reached 11,442,000, which is an astonishing 66 times increase compared to 172,000 applicants in 2012, ten years ago. The number of applicants has been increasing annually, with 6.51 million in 2018, 8.8 million in 2019, 9.9 million in 2020, and 8.8 million in 2021. This year is the first time the number of test takers has surpassed 10 million.

Hongxing News explained that a significant portion of those preparing for the teacher certification exam are between 25 and 30 years old, and many are highly educated individuals from prestigious universities such as Peking University, holding master's and doctoral degrees. They are seeking stable employment.

Chu Jiaohui, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Educational Sciences, diagnosed that "the increase in teacher certification exam applicants is closely related to the current economic and employment situation in China." He added that the attractiveness of the teaching profession lies in its stability.

Even after passing the teacher certification exam, employment in elementary, middle, and high schools is highly competitive. In May, Shenzhen City in Guangdong Province recruited 817 teachers, but 23,601 people applied. In Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, 878 teachers were recruited, attracting 25,345 applicants. The competition ratio is 29 to 1. Hongxing News reported that the nationwide competition ratio for teachers in China ranges from 29 to 1 to 31 to 1.

The teacher-to-student ratio disclosed by the Chinese Ministry of Education last year was 1 to 14.9, but the actual number of students per class in elementary, middle, and high schools reaches 45 to 50. This indicates significant regional disparities in class overcrowding. As of last year, the total number of teachers in China was 18,444,000.

Some express concerns about the rapid increase in applicants for the Chinese teacher exam. Last year, the number of newborns in China was 10.62 million. The birth rate last year was 7.52 per 1,000 people, the lowest ever recorded. The birth rate has been sharply declining annually: 12.43 in 2017, 10.94 in 2018, 10.48 in 2019, and 8.52 in 2020. The number of teacher exam applicants this year exceeds last year’s newborns of 10.62 million.

Chinese media Jiker diagnosed that since 2016, the birth rate has started to decline rapidly, forecasting that the number of students in elementary schools will significantly decrease annually starting in three years, and in middle and high schools starting in nine years. Although over 10 million young people in China are taking the teacher certification exam seeking stable jobs, it is pointed out that teachers will face unemployment risks in the future. The general atmosphere in China is that the teaching profession is no longer a "guaranteed job."

Among the 10.76 million university graduates in China this year, half, or 5.2 million, will take the graduate school entrance exam in December. The youth unemployment rate for ages 16 to 24, announced by the National Bureau of Statistics of China, is 19.9%. This means that out of 107 million young people aged 16 to 24, 21 million are unemployed. The 11.44 million applicants for the Chinese teacher certification exam and the 5.2 million applicants for the graduate school entrance exam reflect the difficult economic situation in China.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.