China’s graduate glut grows
By Antoaneta Bezlova
BEIJING – Feng Danya studied foreign languages. She had hoped to be part of a growing local company and grow with them, she said. But her timing was wrong. She graduated in the summer of uncertainty for the global economy and many Chinese start-ups.
“I now work in an Italian deli shop, selling meat and cheese,” she said. “I’m trying to keep my English up with the foreigners who come to shop here from time to time. I tried many other places where I could at least use my degree, but nothing came through.”
Feng is at least employed. With a monthly salary of 1,400 yuan (US$205) and accommodation shared with her parents, she can continue to look for something better while earning a modest living. But many of her university friends are still without jobs, scouring job fairs and talent recruitment centers.
An explosive report released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) in September said earnings of graduates were now at par and even lower than those of migrant laborers. The news came as a blow to many high-aspiring parents and youngsters in a country that has for centuries prided itself on cultivating elite Confucian intelligentsia.
via Asia Times Online :: China News, China Business News, Taiwan and Hong Kong News and Business..