China’s Job Market Resilient Amidst Headwinds
Students recently explored recruitment opportunities at a campus job fair at Qinghai College of Architectural Technology in Xining, northwest China’s Qinghai Province. The event highlighted the ongoing efforts to maintain employment stability with 1,700 vacancies offered by 45 employers. This reflects the resilience of China’s job market even amidst global economic challenges.
In a recent development, China introduced an array of measures aimed at supporting employment for 2025 college graduates and youth. According to a circular jointly issued by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Finance, every effort will be made to provide robust employment support for college graduates and young individuals, emphasizing their value as human resources.
The circular detailed plans to expand employment opportunities via multiple channels, focusing on increasing market-driven job creation and stabilizing public-sector employment.
Organizations employing 2025 graduates, individuals unemployed within two years after graduation, or registered unemployed youth aged 16-24 are eligible for a one-off job expansion subsidy, valid until December 31, 2025. Additionally, the one-off subsidy policy for state-owned enterprises hiring graduates will be effective through December 31, 2026.
Pro-Employment Policies
Aside from targeting college graduates, authorities are fast-tracking comprehensive measures to support business operations and ensure job stability amid growing external pressures. Key unemployment insurance policies will be extended through 2025 to aid companies in retaining employees and supporting workers in skill upgrades.
Companies that maintain employment levels or minimize layoffs will receive unemployment insurance premium refunds based on the previous year’s payments. This policy forms part of broader efforts to stabilize employment across enterprises.
The measures also promise continued access to basic living allowances, including unemployment benefits and medical insurance. Across China, local governments reinforce policy support by intensifying recruitment and implementing measures to safeguard jobs and improve livelihoods.
For example, Beijing offers tax incentives for enterprises hiring long-term unemployed individuals or those lifted from poverty. Sichuan provides recruitment subsidies for new hires, and Chongqing supports entrepreneurship through free spaces and funding for startup projects.
Approximately 190 million market entities in China are pivotal in maintaining employment stability. Enhanced consumption in the first quarter drove workforce demand in consumer services, escalating job openings significantly in sectors such as online life services, transportation, and elderly care, according to Zhaopin.com data.
Employment demand in burgeoning industries is also on the rise. Corporate recruitment in fields like industrial automation and AI reflects a growing need for mechanical engineers and machine learning professionals.
Career Training for Future Employment
To better align with industrial changes and societal needs, Chinese authorities are improving vocational skills training and refining program offerings.
“With industrial upgrading accelerating, corporate demands evolve, necessitating the improvement of workers’ competencies,” says Li Chang’an, a researcher at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies.
The circular from Friday highlighted China’s ambition to train 1 million graduates and youth by 2025, enhancing their employability. Emphasis is also placed on strengthening employment services and rectifying irregularities in the human resources market.
Henan Province’s “AI+” high-quality employment action plan aims to bridge talent gaps in the AI industry through specialized training curricula. Over the next three years, Henan targets to train more than 50,000 individuals annually in AI applications, assisting at least 40,000 in finding employment or entrepreneurship opportunities in AI-related fields.
Furthermore, China’s vocational skills training subsidies are set to benefit over 10 million trainees, focusing on healthcare, elderly and infant care, advanced manufacturing, and modern services.
China aims to create over 12 million new urban jobs in 2025, targeting an urban unemployment rate around 5.5 percent for the year. The current surveyed urban unemployment rate stands at 5.3 percent for the first quarter and 5.2 percent in March.
The policy toolkit will be continuously enhanced to maintain employment stability and foster economic growth, according to a recent meeting by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. The meeting stressed the importance of rapid implementation of adopted policies, alongside the introduction of additional measures as necessary.
