More than one million jobless Chinese graduates could make coping with unemployment harder than it was during the Asian financial crisis, a training chief has said as the mainland frets over stability amid the economic downturn.
A commentary in the Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily yesterday noted an arduous task ahead in maintaining social stability in the face of serious economic challenges. The thousands of factories shutting or laying off workers, especially along the export-dependent coast, may lead to unrest if the unemployed hit the streets, threatening Communist Party rule.
Chen Guangqing, of the National Association of Vocational Education, said the mainland would have to find a way to absorb migrant workers who had lost their jobs but were unable to return to farming in their villages.
“The employment situation may be worse than the 1990s ... This time, college graduates are not finding work, and there are so many of them,” Mr. Chen said.
The government weathered mass unemployment in the late 1990s as the Asian financial crisis and bankruptcies of state-owned enterprises slowed the economy to a crawl.
Inflation and poor job prospects for graduates also marked the run-up to the 1989 student-led protests that led to the bloody crackdown around Beijing’s central Tiananmen Square on June 4 of that year.
Many college graduates now lack the skills needed to compete for jobs in a fast-changing economy, but are unwilling to take less-respected jobs, Mr. Chen said.
More than 6 million students would try to enter the workforce next year, half a million more than last year. Up to a quarter could have difficulty getting jobs, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Cass) said on Monday.
On top of that, at least 4 million migrant workers who have lost jobs have left the cities and are looking for part-time work in large towns and counties, rather than returning to their villages. Urban unemployment is already at 9.4 per cent, double the official figure, Cass estimates.
Labour strikes, small protests and land disputes are cropping up across the land of 1.3 billion people. Disappointed students who will soon graduate add to the problem.
The People’s Daily said economic development faced serious challenges because of the financial crisis.
“The factors for social instability have increased, contradictions happen more frequently and more easily, and maintaining social stability is still an arduous task,” it said.
It added that the key was to make sure protests did not spin out of control. “If the problem is grabbed early when it is small, contradictions can be nipped in the bud and will not become big incidents,” it said.
“Every department must do its job and fulfil its responsibilities; that way, social stability can be maintained.”
Faltering economic conditions have raised the spectre of growth falling below 8 per cent, which the government regards as a benchmark to create enough jobs to sop up excess labour and guarantee social stability.
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Beijing Frets Over Threat of Instability
Rising unemployment a growing concern
Reuters in Beijing
18 December 2008
More than one million jobless Chinese graduates could make coping with unemployment harder than it was during the Asian financial crisis, a training chief has said as the mainland frets over stability amid the economic downturn.
A commentary in the Communist Party mouthpiece the People’s Daily yesterday noted an arduous task ahead in maintaining social stability in the face of serious economic challenges. The thousands of factories shutting or laying off workers, especially along the export-dependent coast, may lead to unrest if the unemployed hit the streets, threatening Communist Party rule.
Chen Guangqing, of the National Association of Vocational Education, said the mainland would have to find a way to absorb migrant workers who had lost their jobs but were unable to return to farming in their villages.
“The employment situation may be worse than the 1990s ... This time, college graduates are not finding work, and there are so many of them,” Mr. Chen said.
The government weathered mass unemployment in the late 1990s as the Asian financial crisis and bankruptcies of state-owned enterprises slowed the economy to a crawl.
Inflation and poor job prospects for graduates also marked the run-up to the 1989 student-led protests that led to the bloody crackdown around Beijing’s central Tiananmen Square on June 4 of that year.
Many college graduates now lack the skills needed to compete for jobs in a fast-changing economy, but are unwilling to take less-respected jobs, Mr. Chen said.
More than 6 million students would try to enter the workforce next year, half a million more than last year. Up to a quarter could have difficulty getting jobs, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (Cass) said on Monday.
On top of that, at least 4 million migrant workers who have lost jobs have left the cities and are looking for part-time work in large towns and counties, rather than returning to their villages. Urban unemployment is already at 9.4 per cent, double the official figure, Cass estimates.
Labour strikes, small protests and land disputes are cropping up across the land of 1.3 billion people. Disappointed students who will soon graduate add to the problem.
The People’s Daily said economic development faced serious challenges because of the financial crisis.
“The factors for social instability have increased, contradictions happen more frequently and more easily, and maintaining social stability is still an arduous task,” it said.
It added that the key was to make sure protests did not spin out of control. “If the problem is grabbed early when it is small, contradictions can be nipped in the bud and will not become big incidents,” it said.
“Every department must do its job and fulfil its responsibilities; that way, social stability can be maintained.”
Faltering economic conditions have raised the spectre of growth falling below 8 per cent, which the government regards as a benchmark to create enough jobs to sop up excess labour and guarantee social stability.
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