As economy stutters, China's youth seek safety of civil service

Private sector cuts recruitment as economic woes bite

BEIJING As a physics student at the elite Peking University in Beijing, Ms Lynn Lau was expecting big Chinese private sector companies to scour the campus this summer for upcoming talent.

But with the world’s second largest economy growing at its slowest rate in decades, many recruiters stayed away in 2022.

The wishes of Ms Lau’s parents that she have a safe” civil service career suddenly made more sense.

“I feel my older classmates by this point last year) had already got offers from big companies, but then these same companies this year have just been in wait-and-see mode,’ Ms Lau said.

She is among more than 2.6 million people state media said have signed up for the national civil service examination, competing for a record 37,000 central government jobs and tens of thousands of other provincial and city government posts.

Those jobs are drawing record interest in 2022, even as cash-strapped administrations in some cities cut wages, in a sign that economic weakness in zero-Covid-19 China is becoming endemic. State news agency Xinhua said some posts had as many as 6,000 candidates fighting for them, while the average was around 70 to one.

Private firms in tech, finance or tutoring are shedding tens of thousands of jobs. Youth unemployment in 2022 hit a record 20 per cent.

An unprecedented 1.6 million students, equal to the entire population of Belgium, are expected to graduate in 2023.