Jobless rise prompts CCP panic

BIOLOGY student Ma Jingjing wandered the hall of a job fair in central China among other young Chinese hoping to find work in an economy crushed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Ms Ma, 26, is one of almost nine million people graduating and entering the job market this year at a time of great uncertainty, an issue that has the ruling Chinese Communist Party worried to the point President Xi Jinping has made it a priority.

The world’s second-largest economy may have rebounded sharply from a historic virusinduced contraction, but its young graduate jobless rate in June was more than three times that for urban unemployment.

Ms Ma was among hundreds of young faces streaming in and out of the job fair on a recent weekend in Zhengzhou, where employers in industries ranging from real estate to manufacturing recruited.

Like many others, the aspiring teacher was “at a loss” and wondered if she should settle for any job or hold off work for further education.

“I have applied to seven or eight private schools, but only one has called me back for an interview,” she said.

“I’ve studied for so many years and don’t want my family to pay for further training.”

Aware of the risk that mass unemployment can spark political unrest – jeopardising the party’s pledge of prosperity in return for unquestioned political power – the government has been making efforts to boost graduate employment via state-owned enterprises.

But poorer opportunities this year are pushing some into further studies, less ideal jobs or other options.

Although China’s economy appeared to make a strong comeback in the second quarter – growing 3.2 per cent onyear – analysts cautioned the rebound may be over-estimated, with a gap re-emerging between national figures and higher-frequency data.