For decades, Chinese families have invested substantial resources in education, believing that a college degree guarantees a prosperous future. But in 2025, many graduates are discovering that intense competition and a sluggish economy are eroding that promise. Official data show that China’s urban youth unemployment rate (ages 16–24, excluding students) reached 16.9% in February 2025—a record high since the metric was resumed—and only eased to 14.9% by May 2025. Crucially, even this decline masks the pressure of a record 12.2 million students expected to graduate this summer. Analysts warn that these new entrants will likely push the unemployment rate back up. The situation was so severe in mid-2023 that the government briefly stopped publishing the youth unemployment figure when it reached an unprecedented 21.3% in June 2023, underlining the acute scale of the crisis.
This imbalance between education and jobs has left many college-educated young people frustrated. As one official noted, China still faces “recruitment difficulties in some industries and great employment pressures for certain groups.” The government has rolled out subsidies and incentives for companies to hire graduates, but new policies have only slowly alleviated the stress. In daily life and on social media, many young people complain of being forced into jobs that are low-paid or unrelated to their majors. With millions of graduates flooding a sluggish labor market this summer, anxiety is widespread among China’s youth about finding careers worthy of their years of study.
Sun, 21, is a college senior in Beijing who is currently studying economics at China’s Central University of Finance and Economics. With his university ranked 35th in the country, Sun appears optimistic about his future. Being born and raised in the country’s capital, Sun claims to see a decent life path for college students who are heading towards graduation and looking for employment: a salary of around 1,500 U.S.D. per month working in major accounting firms in China, around half of the median salary for Beijing’s population, according to Beijing’s local government.
“As long as you are around average in your studies, you will be fine,” Sun said.
Sun claims that graduates from his university mostly choose to apply for graduate school, while students who don’t achieve academic success proceed to seek employment. “In China, everyone wants to keep studying,” Sun expressed the reason behind Chinese optimism for graduate education, “everyone wants a beautiful diploma. It’s just how this society works.” On the other hand, a Washington Post article explained that a Master’s degree, far from just a beautiful diploma, has become the base requirement for many entry‑level roles in China. Top-tier undergraduates are now pursuing graduate programs primarily to qualify for positions, reflecting a significant decline in workplace opportunities.
According to recent figures from China’s Ministry of Education, 12.2 million students are expected to graduate in 2025, up from 11.6 million in 2023. Amid a tight job market, an increasing number of students are opting to apply to graduate programs instead of entering the workforce directly. In 2024 alone, over 5 million students registered for China’s postgraduate entrance exam, reflecting a continued trend of academic credential inflation. The government has encouraged this path through policy support and expanded enrollment quotas. At the same time, societal expectations remain high, especially in middle and upper-class families, for whom postgraduate education is seen as essential for career advancement. Higher pay for post-graduate careers is also still a motivating factor: a 2024 report from Peking University’s Center for Social Research found that, despite recent stagnation in graduate hiring, advanced degree holders still enjoy a significant lifetime earnings premium. Additionally, a research article from Northwestern University stated that the instability of blue-collar jobs influences students’ decisions to go to graduate school.
In October, Sun applied to the graduate program in Public Policy at the University of Chicago, explaining: “I plan to eventually work in international organizations such as the World Bank or the United Nations.” With studying abroad providing the opportunity to not compete with the millions of graduates in his class, Sun is excited and nervous about his upcoming academic journey, which marks one step closer to his goal of living and working in the United States.
Zhang, 24, is among the millions of graduate students in China nearing the end of their program. Coming from China’s northeastern city of Harbin, Zhang moved to Beijing to pursue her passion for traditional Chinese drama. Zhang attended college and graduate school at the Central Academy of Drama. She eventually decided to focus on a specialization in teaching the traditional art form.
Working as a part-time art instructor online and a drama camp instructor offline, Zhang claims to be tired of the traditional 9-to-5 job life and plans to pursue a doctoral degree in education. “Personally, I can’t really tolerate the stationary jobs that require basically all of your time of the day,” Zhang said, “I experienced that kind of life for six months and decided that it’s not for me.”
Deviating from traditional high-earning jobs such as tech or economy-related professions, Zhang seemed to have found her passion. “It all depends on what kind of life you want to live, if you don’t really want to compete or enact involution, you can absolutely get out of the race track and choose a lifestyle that suits you,” said Zhang. Zhang is aiming to pursue a doctoral degree and plans to become a college professor, educating students in art and drama. Whether because she was not satisfied with her master’s degree or she just could not find a satisfying position for her career, Zhang decided to stay in school a bit longer. Not counting the years she will spend during her doctoral education, it will take Zhang at least a decade to complete her quest to become a college professor in China.
Daniel, 21, is a college senior trying to escape the “rat race.” Daniel was born in the Chinese coastal city of Guangzhou. Daniel relocated to Hong Kong with his parents when he was three years old. He now studies computer science at the City University of Hong Kong.
According to Daniel, life in Hong Kong has been slowly deteriorating compared to the other cities in mainland China. Cities nearby, such as Shenzhen, have become the country’s technological hot spots. The tightening grip of the Chinese government is also causing an increasing number of citizens in Hong Kong to leave their homes in search of opportunities in other Chinese cities.
Still, Daniel stated that the salary for employees in Hong Kong is comparatively higher than the same position in the mainland, thanks to the higher minimum wage: “If you find jobs washing plates and bowls in Hong Kong, you can find your salary higher than doing a similar profession in Shenzhen.”
On the other hand, due to the nature of his computer science major, Daniel still prefers job opportunities in Shenzhen, which offer a better CV and more experience. The concentrated development of the tech industry in several major cities in China makes college students like Daniel eyeing jobs in those locations: “Hong Kong is the standard of economy, but the Chinese government is focusing on more than Hong Kong. They are focusing on Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. [Those cities] are the future.”
A better opportunity naturally comes with a higher admission standard. According to Daniel, major tech companies in Shenzhen, such as Tencent and Alibaba, have reached full staff in recent years. The sluggish economic growth in China did not help the case. Nowadays, companies almost always prefer candidates with a master’s degree for entry-level positions.
Fearing that he didn’t have the “talent” to advance in computer science and distrusting the traditional education system, Daniel followed in his parents’ business footsteps. With start-up funding borrowed from his parents, he established his own electronic wholesale and trading company last year, purchasing used electronics from countries such as the United States and Japan and reselling them to South Asian countries. “University won’t tell you how to earn money,” Daniel said. “To earn money, you need to learn it yourself.”
Yet, not everyone can be as financially supported as Daniel to chase their dreams. In poorer cities in China, such as the northern Chinese city of Harbin, the mismatch between overqualified college graduates and limited job opportunities is becoming increasingly apparent.
Han, 25, was born and raised in the northeastern city of Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province, which has long struggled with economic hardships. Coming from a middle-class family and struggling to look for job opportunities after graduating, she now works as a community organizer. “It was hard looking for jobs after graduation,” Han said. “It took me around a year and a half to finally start working.”
A community organizer differs from a civil servant, a job in government branches known to be extremely challenging to obtain, yet stable, and provides various state benefits. The job of community organizer does not technically count as a government job. Falling into a contractual, temporary employment category within the community, a community organizer typically earns a comparatively lower salary, benefits, and social welfare than a government position.
“My day-to-day life is basically helping out the residents in my neighborhood—resolving neighborhood conflicts, conducting fire safety checks, and announcing new community guidelines from the government,” Han explained her role as a community organizer.
After graduating with average marks from Harbin Normal University, Han eventually landed her current job with a degree in travel management. Han’s peers now work in schools or banks. All took a fair amount of time to find a position to work in: “As far as I know, it takes at least six months after graduation for anyone in my batch to find a job, which should count as employment hardships.”
Thankfully, Han can sustain herself by living with her parents, and her job requires no transportation costs since she works within her neighborhood. However, with a salary of less than $500 a month at a job that does not correlate with her college major, Han expressed her strong desire to seek new employment. “I want a new job,” Han said, “preferably in Harbin so I can still be at home, but definitely another job.”
College graduates such as Han have grown discontent with the jobs they are offered. Job options are slim, and for those without graduate degrees or the financial means to open their own business, the options are even slimmer. With millions of ambitious graduates entering the job market every year, while former graduates continue to struggle to find a position that suits them, no one knows what their future holds.
