[Video] The harsh reality of China's job market for youths
Applying to as many as 800 companies only to receive one job offer is a common but harsh reality for Chinese youths. Even then, they have to contend with challenges such as a gruelling "996" work culture (9am to 9pm, six days a week). While some heed the authorities' call to endure hardships by studying harder and working overtime, some settle for the bare minimum and resign themselves to fate.
For many youths in China, the job market remains tough with a rising number of graduates vying for a limited number of positions and a growing disparity between expectations and actual career prospects. Consequently, many youths are tempering their expectations. Some of them are resorting to passive coping mechanisms such as seeking solace in temples, relocating from urban areas to villages, and becoming "full-time children" where they are paid an allowance for doing chores and helping out around the house.
Such retreats from societal pressures may signal a sense of resignation to the challenges of climbing the social ladder. Yun Zhou, an assistant professor of Sociology at the University of Michigan, observes that underlying these reactions is a prevailing sense of pessimism, uncertainty and futility.
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