University graduates in China are facing a tougher job market. Slower growth

University graduates in China are facing a tougher job market.

Slower growth in the world’s second largest economy means companies have fewer positions to offer.

Job seekers are being forced to lower expectations, or to take on lower-paid positions.

24-year-old Lv Yuan is a finance major from Shanghai. She will graduate in a month… but still hasn’t found a job, even though she started her search three months ago.

“My applications have been done in vain. I would send in 20 a day. Out of over 10, I would get one reply. Companies are also particular about the brand of your school. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a finance major or whether your degree suits the profession, as long as you’re from Fudan, Jiaotong, the four top schools, the company will recruit you,” she said.

A record 700 million university graduates are slated to enter China’s jobs market this year, at a time when the world’s second largest economy is expanding at a slower rate.

Organizers of recruitment fairs said they have seen a 10 per cent increase in the number of fresh graduates seeking jobs.

Official data also shows that the total number of jobs available in the markets have gone down 15 per cent this year as companies faced with weak demand are unwilling to hire.

Even though it said that 900 million new vacancies are created this year, that’s just 1.2 times the total number of fresh graduates seeking work, and is the lowest ratio China has ever seen in its domestic jobs market.

So while there’re still more jobs than fresh graduates, recruiters said these new entrants to the job market are selective about the kind of work they want to do.

Source AP