White paper calls youth joblessness 'striking problem' in China

Asian Economic News, May 3, 2004

BEIJING, April 26 Kyodo

Government authorities term the employment rate among China's youth a key problem as the number of job seekers and the nationwide unemployment rate grow, according to a white paper released Monday.

About 70% of the unemployed people in Chinese urban areas are under 35, the State Council Information Office's white paper titled ''China's Unemployment Situation and Policies'' says, adding that every year 1 million more young people enter the workforce.

''China has a large young population,'' the white paper says. ''Every year, a million-strong new workforce arises, making young people's unemployment an increasingly striking problem.''

China's overall unemployment rate rose from 2.5% to 4.7% between 1990 and 2003, the white paper says.

Experts attribute China's unemployment to structural changes in the socialist economy, which no longer guarantees work, rising expectations of employers and antiquated aspects of the education system.

In some parts of China, unemployment has caused social unrest.

However, Wang Changjiang, general manager of Beijing Haozhu Headhunter Co., a private job placement company, says China's young people themselves are primarily to blame for lack of work.

Despite a lack of work experience or degrees in history, philosophy or other unmarketable subjects, college graduates dump jobs that do not pay enough or require overtime, Wang said.

He said many employers simply do not hire inexperienced graduates.

Younger people also focus too much on ''hot industries'' such as information technology, and major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, leaving ''cold industries'' and companies in western China without enough staff, Wang said.

''If young people can't find work, that's how it should be,'' he said.

China plans to place 9 million people in jobs this year, the white paper says, and reemploy 5 million laid-off workers, to hold the unemployment rate at 4.7%.

The government offers up to three years of vocational training for youth without college education and has adopted measures to match college graduates with companies that need them, the paper says.