BEIJING, Feb 20 (Portal) – China’s job fairs are making a comeback after three years of being forced online by COVID-19, but subdued wages and less plentiful supply in sectors exposed to weaker external demand point to uneven growth and cautious economic recovery.
Authorities announced hundreds of such events across the country this month, the latest sign that China is returning to its pre-COVID way of life and that youth unemployment, which is a major headache for Beijing, may ease from its near 20% peak.
In a country of 1.4 billion people, job fairs are one of the most efficient ways for employers and employees to connect. Although attendees said their long-awaited return was encouraging, some weren’t brimming with optimism.
“I’m just praying for a steady job and I don’t have high salary expectations,” said Liu Liangliang, 24, who was looking for a job at a hotel or property management company at a trade fair in Beijing on Thursday, one of more than 40 in the capital in February instead of. “The COVID outbreak has hurt many people. This year more job seekers will be competing for offers.”
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Fear of work is widespread.
A survey of about 50,000 employees released Thursday by Zhaopin, one of China’s largest recruitment firms, showed that 47.3% of respondents were concerned about losing their jobs this year, up from 39.8% last year Previous year.
About 60% cited “the uncertain economic environment” as the main factor affecting their confidence, up from 48.4% in 2022.
Labor confidence among workers in consumer-related sectors, which are recovering faster from a low base, has been higher than in sectors like manufacturing, which has been hit by the slowdown in external demand, or real estate, which is just beginning to show signs of stabilization to show. the poll found.
A human resources manager at Beijing Xiahang Jianianhua Hotel, who gave only his surname Zhang, said his company had three times more job openings compared to last year as Chinese travel again.
[1/5] Job seekers visit a booth at a job fair in Beijing, China February 16, 2023. Portal/Florence Lo
In contrast, Jin Chaofeng, whose company exports outdoor rattan furniture, said he has no plans to increase his payroll as overseas orders dwindled.
“People in my industry are cautiously waiting,” he said, adding that he plans to cut production in March by 20 to 30 percent from a year earlier.
Frederic Neumann, chief Asia economist at HSBC, expects the service and manufacturing sectors to run at very different speeds this year but said overall employment in China should grow.
“Restaurants, hotels and entertainment establishments are now scrambling to hire staff. This is especially helpful for younger workers,” Neumann said. “The youth unemployment rate is likely to start falling in the coming months.”
China’s economy grew 3% last year, one of its weakest performances in nearly half a century. Policymakers are expected to target growth of around 5%, which would still be below the rapid pace pre-pandemic.
That’s partly because the pain caused by strict COVID rules continues.
At another job fair in the capital, Wei, a former cleaner looking for a similar job, said she and her unemployed husband are struggling with credit card debt.
Wei, who has one child in elementary school and declined to give her full name for privacy reasons, quit her previous job last year after her employer cut her salary from 3,500 yuan to 3,200 yuan ($465.34) a month despite requests She wanted to work late nights to carry out COVID-related disinfection.
“We owe the banks hundreds of thousands of yuan,” she said. “We are overwhelmingly concerned.”
($1 = 6.8767 Chinese Renminbi Yuan)
Additional reporting by Xiaoyu Yin Editing by Marius Zaharia and Gerry Doyle
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