ASIA PACIFIC

China’s young people can’t find jobs. Xi Jinping says to ‘eat bitterness.’

China’s young people are facing record high unemployment as the country’s recovery from the pandemic is fluttering. They’re struggling professionally and emotionally. Yet the Communist Party and the country’s top leader, Xi Jinping, are telling them to stop thinking they are above doing manual work or moving to the countryside. | XINMEI LIU / THE NEW YORK TIMES

By Li Yuan
The New York Times

May 31, 2023

Gloria Li is desperate to find a job. Graduating in June with a master’s degree in graphic design, she started looking last fall, hoping to find an entry-level position that pays about $1,000 a month in a big city in central China. The few offers she has gotten are internships that pay $200 to $300 a month, with no benefits.

Over two days in May, she messaged more than 200 recruiters and sent her resume to 32 companies — and lined up exactly two interviews. She said she would take any offer, including sales, which she was reluctant to consider previously.

"A decade or so ago, China was thriving and full of opportunities,” she said in a phone interview. "Now, even if I want to strive for opportunities, I don’t know which direction I should turn to.”