China's Unemployment Crisis Has Reached Alarming Levels! The Difficult Times are Far from Over

Graduating from university now often leads to unemployment, and even those who return from studying abroad struggle to find jobs. (Video screenshot)

[People News] As China's economy has remained sluggish for several years, an increasing number of citizens are confronting unemployment and job-related challenges. Maintaining a basic standard of living has become a significant hurdle for many workers in Chinese cities.

In a video posted by YouTube user 'Shanghainese' on April 16, it was revealed that 'foreign companies in Shanghai have begun large-scale layoffs. Following the complete dismissal of PayPal's China division, there have also been reports of significant layoffs at the Discover Shanghai R&D centre in recent days. This information has been reported by credible media sources. However, what is truly alarming is that the actions of these two American firms are just the tip of the iceberg. Data from a certain professional networking platform indicates that job postings related to foreign enterprises have dropped by 42% over the past three months. Furthermore, an HR representative from a recruitment platform discreetly mentioned that the share of executive resumes with overseas experience has surged to 30%. Companies like Mercedes-Benz China and Microsoft China have also begun layoffs. Thus, it is not an exaggeration to say that the wave of layoffs and withdrawals from foreign enterprises in Shanghai is indeed upon us.'

The reality of the situation is even more disheartening. A former PayPal programmer shared his job search experience, revealing that after interviewing with eight private companies, his salary was slashed to 60% of what he earned in his previous role. Additionally, a market director who was laid off has transitioned to self-media, titling his first video 'The First Day of a 37-Year-Old Unemployed Returnee Driving Didi'. Meanwhile, some astute observers have noticed troubling trends, such as Amazon Web Services quietly scaling back its operations in East China and Tesla's China R&D centre abruptly freezing external recruitment. These moves appear to validate the strategic contraction of multinational corporations.

Furthermore, a report from Newtalk News indicates that there have been alarming accounts of graduates from prestigious universities being compelled to take up food delivery jobs due to their inability to find employment. Some have even resorted to deliberately damaging cars in an attempt to 'work off debts' while searching for jobs, and many individuals are vying to be 'guinea pigs' for various trials. A significant number of netizens express a pessimistic outlook on China's economic future, fearing that the actual state of the economy may be 'deteriorating further'.

In a video circulating on X, a woman named Xiao Jing, who claims to be a graduate of a top' '985 university' in China, shares her story. After struggling to find work for an extended period, she began delivering food in March. Despite working 13 hours a day, her earnings are limited to just 4 to 5 yuan per order, resulting in a monthly income of only 3,560 yuan. To cut costs, Xiao Jing primarily eats pickles and steamed buns, allocating most of her salary to rent, car rental, and her mother's medical expenses. In the video, she emphasises, 'As long as you are willing to work hard, life will definitely improve.'

Additionally, the "Epoch Times Whistleblower Platform" recently tweeted about an outrageous job-seeking incident. According to the platform, on the 19th local time, a man named Lin, who lives in Nanjing, visited Audi and Mercedes-Benz showrooms to test drive cars, ultimately crashing a total of five vehicles and causing losses of around 800,000 RMB for the two companies.

During police questioning, Lin admitted that his prolonged job search led him to resort to "staged accidents" in order to get hired by the car showrooms to cover the damages from the crashes, thus addressing his employment issues. In the end, the Nanjing Intermediate People's Court sentenced Lin to 4 years and 8 months in prison and ordered him to compensate for all the losses incurred by the showrooms.

A Twitter user named "Mu Yang" also highlighted the alarming trend of many young people in China eager to become "guinea pigs" by participating in drug trials for monetary compensation. One woman from Hangzhou, who was competing for a chance to participate in drug testing, mentioned that due to limited availability, some individuals began queuing as early as 3 AM to improve their chances of being selected for the trial, "but the adverse reactions from these drug trials could fill up to three pages of paper."

Another man who has participated in drug trials multiple times noted that he has long depended on the compensation provided by pharmaceutical companies for his livelihood. He even mentioned that his frequent participation in these trials has left him in a state of failing medical examinations for an extended period. "To take part in the next drug trial, I might have to take some anti-anxiety medication beforehand," he said. He further expressed that the current economic environment in China is dire, stating, "I have no skills; I can only take it one day at a time." 

A user on platform X, known as 'Yesterday', also shared information about a protest that took place in Guangning County, Zhaoqing City, Guangdong Province. Several workers who had previously worked at Senyi Paper Industry began a rights protection campaign on the 7th of the local time due to issues such as disguised layoffs and unpaid wages, demanding appropriate compensation from the company. These rights protection actions have continued to this day without resolution. In response to the workers' demands for compensation, the local government deployed dozens of stability maintenance police to 'stand guard', attempting to increase pressure on the protesting citizens to force them to abandon their demands and end their protests. 

Some overseas netizens commented, "Fake recruitment has been a practice at many third-rate universities during campus recruitment for over a decade. These companies are called in by school leaders (pretending to recruit), but in reality, they are just going through the motions and won't actually hire anyone." 

Another netizen remarked, "The current Chinese economy resembles Japan's economic collapse 30 years ago; it just hasn't hit rock bottom yet. Furthermore, the unemployment rate is significantly worse than it was in Japan back then. Japan was not decoupled from the West at that time, and the difficult days for the Chinese people are still many years ahead."