"After 30 days of probation, they receive 450,000 won per month" Chinese youth doing housekeeping jobs amid unemployment crisis

Encouraging Hiring of Domestic Helpers Including College Graduates and Veterans
21-Year-Old Youth Says "Better Than Staying at Home" Employment
Youth Unemployment Rate Hits Record High of 21.3% in June

China, facing the worst youth unemployment rate in history, is turning to the domestic helper industry.

On the 26th, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that China, struggling with an economic slowdown and job shortages, is encouraging the hiring of domestic helpers among youth, college graduates, and veterans.

This photo is unrelated to the article content. [Image source=Pixabay]

The media introduced Deng Jun (21), who, before graduating from university this summer, was employed at a film and TV production company in Shenzhen last December but was laid off after five months. Afterwards, he saw a promotion from his hometown in Hunan Province and got a job at a domestic service company.

He is currently undergoing a 30-day training course as part of his probation period. He trains daily from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., earning 2,000 yuan (about 360,000 KRW) per month. After completing probation, he will receive a monthly allowance of 2,500 yuan (about 450,000 KRW).

Simply converted to an annual salary, this amounts to 30,000 yuan (about 5.33 million KRW), slightly below the national average annual salary in China of 36,883 yuan (about 6.58 million KRW).

Deng told SCMP, "The employment situation is becoming increasingly pessimistic this year, and it is very difficult to find a job. This work is really tiring and my back hurts a lot, but anyway, it is much better than staying at home every day."

Meanwhile, China has been experiencing the worst youth unemployment crisis in history since last year. According to official data, last month China's youth (ages 16?24) unemployment rate was 21.3%, breaking the record high set in May (20.8%) since related statistics began in 2018.

China has implemented a strong 'zero-COVID' policy over the past three years, and companies have significantly reduced hiring. Many job seekers have yet to enter the job market, and this summer, 11.58 million university students are expected to enter the job market.

Job fair held in Chongqing, China last April.
[Photo by AFP]

Earlier, Professor Zhang Dandan of Peking University pointed out issues such as the 'Tangping' (lying flat and doing nothing) generation who gave up on job hunting due to the employment crisis, and the 'Kangaroo' generation who live off their parents, in an interview with the Washington Post (WP).

He argued that if these groups are included as unemployed, the actual youth unemployment rate in China in March would be 46.5%, far exceeding the official figure of 19.6%.

Recently, at a labor market on the outskirts of Beijing, hundreds of job seekers gathered early in the morning hoping for low-wage jobs, and after a brief interview, companies would load workers into small vans and leave the site, WP reported.

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