This past spring, a phenomenon called Kong Yiji resurfaced on the Internet:
“Education is not only the key to open doors, but also the high platform I can’t step down from. It is the long gown that Kong Yiji can’t take off.”
This “Kong Yiji literature” reveals the confusion of some young people today: the belief that studying can change one’s destiny is gradually collapsing in the new era.
Why is it that after studying for so many years, one cannot find an ideal job?
The answer is obvious: there are too many educated individuals. From the early 2000s to 2022, the number of college graduates has increased more than tenfold. Highly educated individuals are everywhere, and the limited positions and resources have naturally become more scarce, leading to widespread devaluation of educational qualifications.
This summer, according to data released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the number of college graduates in the country for the class of 2023 will reach 11.58 million. In the year 2000, when the belief in the transformative power of education was popular, this number was only 950,000.
At the same time, in March of this year, the National Bureau of Statistics announced that the unemployment rate among urban youth aged 16 to 24 had risen to 19.6%, an increase of 3.6 percentage points compared to the previous year. It is almost on par with the highest unemployment rate recorded in July last year (19.9%).
In the face of a severe job market, what is the current situation of college graduates? How do their preferences, attitudes, and choices differ from previous years? DT Finance conducted the following observations and analysis:
Image: What kind of job market situation are these college students facing?
The difficulties of last year’s graduation season are still fresh in many people’s minds. According to statistics from Oriental Fortune Choice as of April 30, 2022, nearly 910,000 employees were laid off by A-share listed companies alone.
