"Why Go to Graduate School When You Can't Even Get a Job?"... Chinese Youth Seeking Secure Government Jobs

Graduate School Exam Takers Decrease for the First Time in 9 Years
3 Million Apply for Civil Service Exam...Record High

As China's employment difficulties continue, more young people are hoping to become civil servants, who are guaranteed stable tenure, rather than pursuing additional degrees.

On the 19th, Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported, citing Ministry of Education statistics, that the number of graduate school exam takers this year was 4.38 million, a 7.6% decrease compared to the previous year. This marks a reversal from the increasing trend that had continued since 2015, turning into a decline for the first time in nine years.

On the other hand, 3.033 million people took the national civil service exam (Guokao) held in November, surpassing 3 million for the first time ever. Compared to last year (2.6 million), this is a sharp increase of 16.7% in just one year. The number of positions available was 39,600, 2,500 more than the previous year, but due to the surge in applicants, the competition ratio jumped from 70 to 1 to 77 to 1.

SCMP evaluated, "Although civil servants have relatively low salaries, they are considered 'cheolbapton' (iron rice bowl) among young people because their tenure and benefits are guaranteed," adding, "In the sluggish economic recovery, with foreign companies leaving and private companies struggling, finding a satisfactory job has become difficult." The Chinese authorities have not disclosed the youth unemployment rate (ages 16?24), which reached a record high of 21.3% in June, since July.

The demand for master's degrees or higher surged in the 2000s. According to the Ministry of Education, between 2000 and 2022, the number of university students nearly tripled, but the number of graduate students increased tenfold, reaching 1.24 million last year. Chen Ziyuan, a member of the Academic Committee of the China Education Development Strategy Society, pointed out, "Young people are becoming more rational as they realize that degrees no longer guarantee better jobs," adding, "While general universities are generally affordable, graduate schools, especially for professional degrees, require a significant amount of money."

Xiong Bingqi, deputy director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, pointed out that "the number of jobs provided by the private sector is less than imagined," attributing this to the sluggishness of private companies and the departure of foreign companies. Deputy Director Xiong said, "If private companies do not grow and openness to the outside world is halted, students' employment will become increasingly difficult," and criticized, "There is also discrimination based on degrees, and our society urgently needs to shift from a diploma-centered society to a skills-centered society."

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