BEIJING (Reuters) -Rising unemployment in China is pushing millions of college graduates into a tough bargain, with some forced to accept low-paying work or even subsist on their parents' pensions, a plight that has created a new working class of "rotten-tail kids". The phrase has become a social media buzzword this year, drawing parallels to the catchword "rotten-tail buildings" for the tens of millions of unfinished homes that have plagued China's economy since 2021. A record number of college

BEIJING (Reuters) - Rising unemployment in China is pushing millions of college graduates into a tough bargain, with some forced to accept low-paying work or even subsist on their parents’ pensions, a plight that has created a new working class of “rotten-tail kids”.

The phrase has become a social media buzzword this year, drawing parallels to the catchword “rotten-tail buildings” for the tens of millions of unfinished homes that have plagued China’s economy since 2021.

A record number of college graduates this year are hunting for jobs in a labour market depressed by COVID-19-induced disruptions as well as regulatory crack-downs on the country’s finance, tech and education sectors.

The jobless rate for the roughly 100 million Chinese youth aged 16-24 crept above 20% for the first time in April last year. When it hit an all-time high of 21.3% in June 2023, officials abruptly suspended the data series to reassess how numbers were compiled.

    • ravhall@discuss.onlineEnglish
      747·
      28 days ago

      Something something Marx, Soviet era reference, reason why USA is bad, Vietnam something, never answering the direct question, personal insult goes here, ending in a leading question. Clown face emoji.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        41·
        27 days ago

        Looks like the actual spin was “this is normal and happens everywhere, I see no problem”.

      • cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.mlEnglish
        944·
        28 days ago

        Isn’t making up guys that don’t exist so you can feel intellectually superior just the best?! 😀

        • ravhall@discuss.onlineEnglish
          344·
          28 days ago

          Found you. Copy and paste this back to me:

          Tiananmen Square Massacre really happened

          • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
            12·
            27 days ago

            Man, they really can’t seem to post that, even just to “debunk” it. I wonder why? Is there some kind of auto-ban? Some of them really do believe what they’re saying.

            • cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.mlEnglish
              11·
              27 days ago

              There’s no point jumping through hoops for someone whose mind is already made up about you. It’s more fun for everyone if we just get into emoji fights and post snarky comments.

              • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
                1·
                27 days ago

                Yeah, but like, if you would put in a little quote of it, and then explain why it’s wrong, the TSM couldn’t be used as some kind of magic charm like this. As it is, everyone’s thinking you must be under duress.

                • cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.mlEnglish
                  2·
                  27 days ago

                  As it is, everyone’s thinking you must be under duress.

                  Do people seriously think that? Chinese censorship doesn’t work like that. They don’t care if one of their citizens uses a VPN to post about how the Tiananmen Square Massacre actually happened anonymously on some random foreign website. It’s baffling to me that anyone would think that they do.

                  The reality usually is that asking to copy and paste something vaguely tangential to the conversation at hand just comes across as dismissive and infantilizing. Most people don’t want to jump through hoops to be taken seriously and so they don’t engage further. Assuming that they don’t want to engage because they’re under duress is just letting your confirmation bias run wild.

    • Aurenkin@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      653·
      28 days ago

      Definitely the worst part of using Lemmy. As someone who lives in Taiwan it’s quite annoying getting gaslit by a bunch of cosplayers in random threads.

      • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        91·
        27 days ago

        Yeah. The good news is they’re harmless because “we’re the bad guys” has the exact opposite of mass appeal. Flat Earthers are more likely to cause real-life political change, haha.

        • rumschlumpel@feddit.orgEnglish
          102·
          27 days ago

          Unfortunately, the tankies are also impeding the change we actually need (e.g. expansion of workers rights). It’s harder to get involved in leftism when such a large part of vocal leftists are tankies.

          • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
            41·
            27 days ago

            I’m not really impressed with the other kind of leftist either, TBH. Anarchism is just a vague concept and the movement itself is mostly infighting. All the useful work I see being done is coming from within mainstream activism.

    • Diplomjodler@lemmy.worldEnglish
      171·
      28 days ago

      It’s all just a 5D chess move by Dear Leader Xi. You filthy capitalist pigs won’t understand.

    • Gsus4English
      134·
      28 days ago

      This they will say it’s the US’s fault, for corrupting China with capitalism.

    • barsquid@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      27 days ago

      They’ll link you to an essay that goes on forever and quotes dozens of philosophers. But it doesn’t actually address your question and it is completely divorced from any real-world data.

    • cecinestpasunbot@lemmy.mlEnglish
      1528·
      27 days ago

      What’s there to spin? Youth unemployment is a problem many countries struggle with. China isn’t exactly unique in that regard. According the world bank, China’s youth unemployment is rather unremarkable and is actually lower than many European countries.

      Edit: a link to the world bank which was already cited but hard for some people to find https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SL.UEM.1524.ZS?most_recent_value_desc=true

    • Dagwood222@lemm.eeEnglish
      16·
      27 days ago

      If you’re in the US start applying for Civil Service jobs. City, state or federal.

      You won’t get hired quickly, but when you do get hired you’ll have a great union and solid benefits.

  • hark@lemmy.worldEnglish
    5·
    27 days ago

    That’s really rough. Looking for a job while you don’t have one is miserable enough, but when the job market is that bad then it’s utterly hopeless and filled with despair. The economic outlook in China is looking bad in general and it makes me wonder how much of it will reverberate across the world.