How to solve a problem like China’s jobless, ‘lying flat’ youth
- In a tough job climate, some young Chinese are ‘lying flat’, ‘letting it rot’ or considering leaving the country
- Recent regulatory clampdowns on sectors like tutoring have not helped job prospects. To solve the problem, the government should listen to young people
While the “lying flat” movement might have gained prominence during the pandemic, there are deeper structural reasons for it. Chief among them is perhaps the perception of diminishing economic opportunities in an ultra-competitive environment. While education once provided a way to climb the economic ladder, social mobility has declined in recent decades. As China’s economy matured, the prospects of young Chinese born into affluent families in major cities have become far better than those of their less-fortunate peers.
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Youth unemployment is caused by a lack of job opportunities and a mismatch between skills and job requirements. The government’s clampdowns not only eliminated jobs but aggravated the skills mismatch because many employees with general skills who were employed in the property or education sectors have been unable to find good jobs in other sectors.
Unemployed graduates’s best hope lies in job creation. Private enterprises have long provided most of the urban employment but many, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, were decimated in the pandemic due to lockdowns. Restoring confidence among private enterprises, including foreign investors, will be critical to sustained job creation.
Unemployed youth’s unmet expectations are a recipe for social instability. Promoting alternative pathways to good and stable urban jobs could be a way forward. But the failure of such alternatives would only deepen young people’s disappointment. Meanwhile, young Chinese don’t need pontifications about how they should manage their expectations. “Lying flat” is a form of self-regulation in the face of seemingly impossible odds.
The government has rightly focused on job creation, but the task may ultimately fall to private enterprises in the main.
Party cadres are being told to focus on investigative research, in the tradition of the party. Among the most important research initiatives would be running focus groups with unemployed young people and graduating students, as well as private-sector employers.
Realistic solutions to youth unemployment must start with a solid grasp of the problems on both the demand and supply sides. To mitigate young people’s malaise, their voices must be heard.
Winston Mok, a private investor, was previously a private equity investor