China’s young workers are overqualified and in low-paying jobs

China has now become a country where a high school teacher has a master’s degree in physics; the cleaner is qualified in environmental planning; a delivery driver studied philosophy and a PhD graduate from the prestigious Tsinghua University eventually applied for a job as an auxiliary police officer.

These are real cases in a tough economy – and it’s not hard to find more like them.

“My dream job was to work in investment banking,” Sun Zhan says as he prepares to start his shift as a waiter at a restaurant specializing in cooking in the southern city of Nanjing.

The 25-year-old recently graduated with a master’s degree in finance. He hoped to “make a lot of money” in a high-paying position, but adds: “I’ve been looking for a job like this, but to no avail.”

China produces millions of university graduates every year, but there are simply not enough jobs for them in some fields.

The economy is struggling and stalling in key sectors including real estate and manufacturing.

Youth unemployment was pushing up to 20% before the way the numbers were measured was changed to make the situation look better. In August 2024, it was still 18.8%. The last figure for November fell to 16.1%.

Many university graduates who found it difficult to get a job in their chosen field are now doing work far below their qualifications, drawing criticism from family and friends.

When Sun Zhan became a waiter, it was met with displeasure by his parents.

“My family’s opinion worries me a lot. After all, I studied for many years and went to a pretty good school,” he says.

He says his family is confused by his choice of job and would prefer he try to become a civil servant or official, but, he adds, “it’s my choice.”

But he has a secret plan. He is going to use his time working as a waiter to learn the restaurant business so that he can eventually open his own restaurant.

He thinks that if he ends up running a successful business, the critics in his family will have to change their minds.

“The employment situation in mainland China is very, very difficult, so I think many young people have to adjust their expectations,” said Professor Zhang Jun of the City University of Hong Kong.

She says many students seek higher degrees to have better prospects, but then the real employment environment hits them.

“The job market has been very tough,” said Wu Dan, 29, who is currently interning at a sports massage clinic in Shanghai.

“Many of my classmates who graduated with a master’s degree are looking for a job for the first time, and very few of them end up finding one.”

She also did not think that she would get a degree in finance from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology here.

Before that, she worked at a futures trading company in Shanghai, where she specialized in agricultural products.

When she returned to the mainland after finishing her studies in Hong Kong, she wanted to work for a private equity firm and received several offers, but the conditions did not satisfy her.

The fact that she didn’t accept any of them and went into sports medicine instead wasn’t welcomed by her family.

“They thought I had such a good job before and my education is quite competitive. They didn’t understand why I chose a low-barrier job that required me to do manual labor for little money.’

She admits she wouldn’t be able to survive in Shanghai on her current salary if it weren’t for the fact that her partner owns their house.

At first, she didn’t know anyone who supported her current career, but her mother followed after she had recently cured her ailing back, greatly reducing the pain she was experiencing.

Now the one-time finance student says she feels life in the investment world isn’t really for her.

She says she is interested in sports injuries, enjoys the work and wants to open her own clinic someday.

Professor Zhang says Chinese graduates are being forced to change their perception of what constitutes a “good job”.

In what could be seen as a “warning sign” for young people, “a lot of companies in China, including a lot of tech companies, have laid off quite a lot of staff,” she adds.

She also says that significant sectors of the economy, which were once major employers for graduates, offer substandard conditions, and decent opportunities in these sectors are disappearing altogether.

As they ponder what to do in the future, unemployed graduates are also turning to the film and television industry.

Big-budget movies require a lot of extras to fill their scenes, and the famous Chinese film-making city of Hengdian, southwest of Shanghai, has plenty of young people looking for acting jobs.

“I mostly stand next to the main character as eye candy. I am seen next to the main actors, but I have no lines,” says Wu Xinghai, who studied electronic information engineering and played a bodyguard in the drama.

The 26-year-old laughs that his good looks helped him become an extra.

He says people often come to Hengdian and work for just a few months. He says it’s also a temporary solution for him until he finds something permanent. “I don’t make a lot of money, but I’m relaxed and I feel free.”

“This is the situation in China, isn’t it? As soon as you graduate, you become unemployed,” said Li, who did not want to be named.

He majored in film directing and screenwriting, and signed up to work as an extra for a few months.

“I came here to look for a job while I’m still young. When I get older, I will find a stable job.’

But many fear that they will never find a decent job and may have to settle for a role that is not what they imagined.

A lack of confidence in the trajectory of the Chinese economy means young people often don’t know what the future holds.

Wu Dan says even her friends who work can feel lost.

“They are very confused and feel that the future is unclear. Those who have a job are not satisfied with it. They do not know how long they will be able to hold on to these positions. And if they lose their current job, what else do they have to do?”

She says she’s just “going with the flow and slowly figuring out what I really want to do.”