Record 9 million fresh grads in China could face job crunch in 2021

Beijing [China], May 15 : A record-high 9 million students are set to graduate from Chinese universities in the year 2021, and to ensure stable employment to all the newbies in the job market could prove to be an arduous task for the country.
The year 2020 has been called "the most difficult employment season in China's history" due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Global Times reported. According to the Chinese state media, the negative impact of the epidemic on employment will continue in 2021.
The Ministry of Education said that 9.09 million college students are expected to graduate from their institutes in 2021, which is an increase of 350,000 over 2020.
This news comes as China released the data of its seventh national census that showed that the size of the country's labour force and its proportion of the total population are both continuing to decline. However, experts have pointed out that the employment pressure on young people is still huge.
On Thursday, the Education Ministry had said that although the employment environment is still complicated and arduous, all departments will work together to ensure stable employment.
Experts in the field believe that although China's working-age population continues to decline, there will be no labour crisis in the short term, and the employment pressure on young people will remain huge.
According to Global Times, since September last year, the Chinese government has been working to secure employment for the graduates-to-be.
The report also said state-owned enterprises are also easing the pressure, adding that major colleges and universities are working in the direction to absorb more graduates who wish to study further, in a bid to ease the employment pressure.