China is now a country where a high-school handyman has a master’s degree in physics; a cleaner is qualified in environmental planning; a delivery driver studied philosophy, and a PhD graduate from the prestigious Tsinghua University ends up applying to work as an auxiliary police officer.
These are real cases in a struggling economy – and it is not hard to find more like them.
“My dream job was to work in investment banking,” says Sun Zhan as he prepares to start his shift as a waiter in a hot pot restaurant in the southern city of Nanjing.
The 25-year-old recently graduated with a master’s degree in finance. He was hoping to “make a lot of money” in a high-paying role but adds, “I looked for such a job, with no good results.”
China is churning out millions of university graduates every year but, in some fields, there just aren’t enough jobs for them.
The economy has been struggling and stalling in major sectors, including real estate and manufacturing.
Youth unemployment had been nudging 20% before the way of measuring the figures was altered to make the situation look better. In August 2024, it was still 18.8%. The latest figure for November has come down to 16.1%.
Many university graduates who’ve found it hard to get work in their area of selected study are now doing jobs well below what they’re qualified for, leading to criticism from family and friends.
When Sun Zhan became a waiter, this was met with displeasure by his parents.”My family’s opinions are a big concern for me. After all, I studied for many years and went to a pretty good school,” he says.
He says his family is embarrassed by his job choice and would prefer he tried to become a public servant or official, but, he adds, “this is my choice”.
Yet he has a secret plan. He’s going to use his time working as a waiter to learn the restaurant business so he can eventually open his own place.
He thinks if he ends up running a successful business, the critics in his family will have to change their tune.
“The job situation is really, really challenging in mainland China, so I think a lot of young people have to really readjust their expectations,” says Professor Zhang Jun from the City University of Hong Kong.
She says many students are seeking higher degrees in order to have better prospects, but then the reality of the employment environment hits them.
“The job market has been really tough,” says 29-year-old Wu Dan, who is currently a trainee in a sports injury massage clinic in Shanghai.
“For many of my master’s degree classmates, it’s their first time hunting for a job and very few of them have ended up landing one.”
She also didn’t think this was where she would end up with a finance degree from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Prior to this, she worked at a futures trading company in Shanghai, where she was specialising in agricultural products.
When she returned to the mainland after finishing her studies in Hong Kong, she wanted to work in a private equity firm and did get some offers but was not happy with the conditions.
That she didn’t accept any of them and instead started training in sports medicine was not welcomed by her family.
“They thought I had such a good job before, and my educational background is quite competitive. They didn’t understand why I chose a low-barrier job that requires me to do physical work for little money.”
She admits that she couldn’t survive in Shanghai on her current salary, if not for the fact that her partner owns their home.
At first, she didn’t know anyone who supported her current career path, but her mother has been coming around after she recently treated her for her bad back, significantly reducing the pain she had been experiencing.
Now the one-time finance student says she feels that a life working in the investment world actually doesn’t suit her after all.
She says she is interested in sports injuries, likes the job, and one day, she wants to open her own clinic.