China's labor market and unemployment

Main article: Economy of China

2023

The launch of raising the retirement age within 15 years: up to 63 years for men and 58 years for women

In September 2024, China approved a plan for the first increase in the retirement age since 1978. The move could slow workforce cuts and ease the pension burden.

The retirement age for men will increase from 60 to 63, and for women from 50 and 55 to 55 and 58. The changes will take place over 15 years, starting January 1, 2025.

3 million applicants for 40 thousand vacancies in the civil service

A record number of Chinese job seekers (3 million people) in October 2023 are looking for work in the state civil service, as many want stability amid a gloomy labor market.

The appeal of public office positions has increased in recent years as the economy has slowed due to the real estate crisis and downturn, and large-scale private sector cuts have led to massive layoffs at technology and education firms. In 2022, a record was also set for the number of applications for work in provincial authorities.

China launched a secret program to lure foreign IT specialists

At the end of August 2023, it became known that China organized a secret program to lure foreign IT specialists, for the implementation of which huge funds were allocated.

For ten years, until 2018, China sought to attract highly qualified engineers and scientists educated abroad to the country. This was done as part of a generously funded program called the Thousand Talents Plan (TTP), which Washington viewed as a threat to the national interest. In the United States, an investigation was launched into TTP, and the Chinese authorities decided to curtail the initiative. However, according to Reuters, soon the program of luring foreign IT specialists was revived in the PRC in a new format.

China organized a secret program to lure foreign IT specialists

Journalists analyzed more than 500 governmental documents for the China period from 2019 to 2023. It was established that the updated system for attracting personnel involves benefits, including subsidies for the purchase of housing and bonuses in the amount of 3 to 5 million yuan (from $412 thousand to $686 thousand at the exchange rate as of August 25, 2023). China There are a number of schemes at various government levels to attract specialists from abroad, including both foreign experts and citizens of the PRC.

The main replacement for TTP is a program called Qiming ("Enlightenment"), overseen by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The initiative provides for the search for specialists in the scientific and technological fields, including the semiconductor industry. In some documents, the Qiming program is mentioned along with Huoju (Torch), an initiative of the Ministry of Science and Technology of the PRC aimed at creating clusters of technology companies. Qiming is said to be operating in tandem with recruitment initiatives supported by local and provincial authorities. The clandestine program is designed to eliminate the personnel shortage: China is estimated to be short of about 200,000 specialists, including engineers and chip developers.^[1]

Youth unemployment set a new record of 21.3%

The unemployment rate among young people from 16 to 24 in China reached a new high in July 2023: 21.3% - against 19.9% a year earlier and 13.9% in the dock July 2019.

At the same time, unemployment in cohort 24-59 in China remains quite modest: 4.1%, but the total number of people employed in urban areas in China has decreased for the first time since 1962!

At the same time, students and simply sitting at home on the neck of their parents (and not looking for work!) Are not considered unemployed.

More youth visit temples to pray for employment

By April 2023, more young people in China are visiting temples to pray for employment.

A fifth of young Chinese out of work among the highly educated generation is a record.

Improving their prospects is a major headache for authorities, who want the economy to create 12 million new jobs in 2023, up from 11 million last year.

2022

Employees of the banking sector reduced salaries by 20-30% to equalize income with other industries

Boasting her banker husband's monthly salary dollar of 80,000 yuan (11,562) on social media in 2022, the Chinese woman quickly drew the ire of ordinary people and regulatory attention to the financial elite.

In 2022, employees of the banking sector were reduced by about 20-30%.

The Central Discipline Review Commission warned that pay in the financial sector is still much higher than in other industries, and that financial professionals should abandon self-identification as elites.

The wage cuts in the financial industry were partly a result of Chinese President Xi Jinping's push for 'universal prosperity'.

Unemployment rises to 6.1%

China's unemployment rate climbed to 6.1% in April 2022, while the youth unemployment rate hit a record of 18.2%.

2021: China lacks hundreds of thousands of chip specialists

In October 2021, Peking University published a study in which it reported that China faces a chronic shortage of scientific and engineering personnel, which could hinder its efforts to turn into a semiconductor superpower and reduce dependence on imported chips.

According to them, the problem is becoming more acute as the young industry develops in the face of a shortage of qualified senior specialists.

If innovation is based on technology, people are key to their development, said Zhang Wei, dean of the school of microelectronics at Fudan University at a recent summit on integrated circuits in the Chinese city of Nanjing, where semiconductors are made. Their level will determine our strength.

The PRC lacks hundreds of thousands of chip specialists

China's problem is that the country's talent pool does not match its ambitions.

According to a report published in 2021 by the Chinese Institute for Financial Research in Education at Beijing University, the shortage of talent in the country's semiconductor industry increased from 150 thousand in 2015 to 300 thousand people in 2019.

While this problem is not unique to China, it could have a detrimental effect on the country's quest to find self-sufficiency in its fledgling semiconductor industry to prevent supply chain risks.

The problem is not numbers, but quality, according to a report by investment bank China International Capital Corporation (CICC). China's school-educated engineers don't have enough experience, meaning industries lack leaders, especially in chip manufacturing.

Since 2018, the number of professionals working in China's semiconductor industry has increased due to higher wages and generous government support. According to the CICC report, this support, including direct funding and tax credits for research and development, accounted for 0.12% of GDP in 2016.

As of the end of 2019, there were about 510 thousand people employed in the semiconductor industry in China, which is 11% more compared to the same period in 2018, and 350 thousand of them worked directly in the field of design or production.^[2]

2020

Unemployment - 4.7%

The data released by the Chinese State Statistics Committee said 11.86 million new urban jobs were created in the country in 2020. For all of 2020, China's unemployment rate was 4.7%, up from 5.5% the previous year.

Blogger and e-sportsman became official professions in China

In early July 2020, China expanded its official list of professions to include more flexible forms of activity for young graduates. Now the owners of online stores, as well as bloggers and e-sportsmen will be classified as employed, according to a document from the Ministry of Education. This measure was introduced as part of the fight against unemployment, which swept China after the coronavirus epidemic.

To be considered employed, people must work at least one paid hour a week, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. The Department for Education is asking universities and colleges to stick to the new rules when collecting employment data and review existing statistics on graduate employment. Officials also warned that providing false information would be severely punished, but the forms of punishment were not specified.

The new rules are based on a long-standing strategy. Earlier, one of the government advisers called for greater tolerance for forms of work and unemployment data.

Blogger and e-sportsman became official professions in China

College students do not have to go to the office, they have more and more options to earn money, "explained Tang Ming, economist and adviser to the State Council. - They can open an online store or engage in cross-border e-commerce. They can start their own business with a laptop alone and create a new employment opportunity for other people.

In 2020, 8.74 million new graduates were registered in China. Unfortunately, crowds of new workers only exacerbate the already difficult situation in the employment market, as millions of workers were left without work due to the COVID-19 coronavirus. The official unemployment rate in China in May was 5.9%, and in February, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, jumped to a record high of 6.2%. The government expects the annual average to be "about 6%," but it does not take into account many migrant workers from rural areas.^[3]

2019: Labour productivity slump

2009: More than 5.8% of workers work 60 or more hours a week

Data for 2015 Data for China - for 2009, for Russia - for 2010, for India - for 2011

Notes