'It's difficult to find a job that matches your degree and aspirations,' one of the fair's young jobseekers told AFP. Photo: Hector RETAMAL / AFPThe empty seats belied China's stubbornly high youth unemployment rate -- a problem so pressing that President Xi Jinping this week told top Communist Party cadres it should be a"top priority".
That number had soared to an unprecedented 21.3 percent in mid-2023, before officials paused publishing monthly figures. They began releasing them again in December after adjusting the calculation method.Hospitality and human resources firms dominated Friday's small job fair, one of many hosted by local authorities over recent weeks in anticipation of the imminent influx of university leavers.
Together with persistently low consumption and a long-running property sector crisis, the unemployment situation has been labelled a key culprit for China's uneven post-pandemic recovery. Murphy Cruise said he expected the government to increase wage subsidies to persuade companies to hire recent graduates, as well as create more work placements for students.There is now a push to fill roles that"dovetail with key policy priorities" or where skills shortages exist, said Tay, like industrial upgrading and scientific innovation.