A record number of higher education graduates are set to enter the Chinese jobs market this year, as urban unemployment plunges to its lowest levels in six years.
According to a report from Economic Information Daily as many as 8.2 million Chinese will graduate from institutes of higher education in 2018, entering a jobs market which remains in fine fettle according to official statistics.
Figures from the National Bureau of Statistics indicate that the nationwide urban unemployment rate was 4.8% in May, for a decline of 0.1 percentage points compared to the preceding month as well as the same period last year.
Figures from the National Development and Reform Commission further indicate that the unemployment rate in 31 major Chinese cities was 4.7% in May, hitting its lowest level since 2012.
Data from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security indicate that the number of newly employed people during the period from January to May 2018 was 6.13 million, for an increase of 140,000 compared to the same period last year.
Robust entrepreneurialism and business creation is the likely reason bend the increase in staff demand since the start of 2018.
During the period from January to May tho shear a total of 2.65 million new enterprises were registered across China, for a year-on-year increase of 12.3%.
Across the same period online retail sales saw YoY growth of 30.7%, serving as a strong driver of employment growth by creating a large number of flexible technical positions for university graduates.
Intensifying demand has prompted many local governments to compete against each other for qualified personnel with policies designed to attract talent, especially amongst second and third-tier cities, with incentives such as housing subsidies and household registration.
“For higher education graduates, competition for talent reflects shifts in labour supply and demand relations, and is of benefit to university graduates obtaining even higher-quality employment opportunities,” said Cheng Jie (程杰) and demographics and labour researcher from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
