Friday 16 January 2009

Graduates Learn to Master Household Chores

Desperate graduates, facing grim job prospects amid slowing economic growth, are clamouring to find posts as nannies and domestic helpers for the rich in Guangdong, state media reported yesterday.

1 comment:

Guanyu said...

Graduates Learn to Master Household Chores

Reuters in Beijing and Kelly Chan
8 January 2009

Desperate graduates, facing grim job prospects amid slowing economic growth, are clamouring to find posts as nannies and domestic helpers for the rich in Guangdong, state media reported yesterday.

Thousands had applied for nanny work through an agency in China’s export heartland, the Guangzhou Daily reported.

“There have been five or six hundred people applying every month, with more than 90 per cent university students, including 28 master’s degree students,” a housekeeping recruitment agent told the daily.

But only 300 of 2,000 students had landed jobs in the past few months as companies went bankrupt and foreign businessmen deserted the province in droves, the agency said.

An increasing number of graduates are looking for jobs as nannies because of the attractive wages.

A Sichuan housework recruitment agent arranged for seven bachelor’s degree holders, including two men, to work for families in Beijing for bed and board and 2,000 yuan (HK$2,270) a month, news website Sichuan Online recently reported.

Most employers expect these well-educated nannies to be able to tutor their children in addition to doing housework.

Other graduates are chasing more menial work. In Guangzhou last year, 1,500 master’s degree holders applied for jobs at Yihao Tuzhu, a chain of pork butchers. After four rounds of tests, just 30 were hired, according to the Guangzhou Daily.

The chain was opened by Peking University graduate Chen Sheng, who quit his job in the government and became a butcher more than 10 years ago. Now a property developer, his story has inspired many graduates to believe they can achieve similar success.

Mainland labour officials have repeatedly warned the 6 million students graduating this year that they will face tough times finding work and told them not to be fussy.

Fearing rising discontent from students, who led the pro-democracy protests in Beijing in 1989 that were brutally put down by the government, labour authorities have taken steps to encourage hiring.

Beijing’s labour and social security bureau said it would slash employee health and injury insurance costs, and offer other incentives for companies to hire, the Beijing Times newspaper reported.

Reports say students are also being encouraged to stay longer at university in Fujian province in the southeast, with an extra 20,000 pursuing second or higher degrees.