China is now a country where a high-school handyman has a master’s degree in physics; a cleaner is qualified in environmental planning; a delivery driver studied philosophy, and a PhD graduate from the prestigious Tsinghua University ends up applying to work as an auxiliary police officer.

These are real cases in a struggling economy – and it is not challenging to discover more like them.

“My aspiration job was to work in property banking,” says Sun Zhan as he prepares to commence his shift as a waiter in a warm pot restaurant in the southern city of Nanjing.

The 25-year-ancient recently graduated with a master’s degree in finance. He was hoping to “make a lot of money” in a high-paying role but adds, “I looked for such a job, with no excellent results”.

China is churning out millions of university graduates every year but, in some fields, there just aren’t enough jobs for them.

The economy has been struggling and stalling in major sectors, including real estate and manufacturing.

Youth unemployment had been nudging 20% before the way of measuring the figures was altered to make the circumstance look better. In August 2024, it was still 18.8%. The latest figure for November has arrive down to 16.1%.

Many university graduates who’ve found it challenging to get work in their area of selected study are now doing jobs well below what they’re qualified for, leading to criticism from household and friends.

When Sun Zhan became a waiter, this was met with displeasure by his parents.

“My household’s opinions are a large concern for me. After all, I studied for many years and went to a pretty excellent school,” he says.

He says his household is embarrassed by his job selection and would prefer he tried to become a community servant or official, but, he adds, “this is my selection”.

Yet he has a secret schedule. He’s going to use his period working as a waiter to discover the restaurant business so he can eventually open his own place.

He thinks if he ends up running a successful business, the critics in his household will have to transformation their tune.

“The job circumstance is really, really challenging in mainland China, so I ponder a lot of youthful people have to really readjust their expectations,” says Professor Zhang Jun from the City University of Hong Kong.

She says many students are seeking higher degrees in order to have better prospects, but then the reality of the employment surroundings hits them.

“The job trade has been really tough,” says 29-year-ancient Wu Dan, who is currently a trainee in a sports injury massage clinic in Shanghai.

“For many of my master’s degree classmates, it’s their first period hunting for a job and very few of them have ended up landing one.”

She also didn’t ponder this was where she would complete up with a finance degree from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

Prior to this, she worked at a forward contracts market activity business in Shanghai, where she was specialising in agricultural products.

When she returned to the mainland after finishing her studies in Hong Kong, she wanted to work in a private stake firm and did get some offers but was not joyful with the conditions.

That she didn’t receive any of them and instead started training in sports medicine was not welcomed by her household.

“They thought I had such a excellent job before, and my educational background is quite competitive. They didn’t comprehend why I chose a low-barrier job that requires me to do physical work for little money.”

She admits that she couldn’t survive in Shanghai on her current salary, if not for the truth that her associate owns their home.

At first, she didn’t recognize anyone who supported her current career path, but her mother has been coming around after she recently treated her for her impoverished back, significantly reducing the pain she had been experiencing.

Now the one-period finance learner says she feels that a life working in the property globe actually doesn’t suit her after all.

She says she is interested in sports injuries, likes the job and, one day, wants to open her own clinic.

Chinese graduates are being forced to transformation their perceptions regarding what might be considered “a excellent position”, Prof Zhang says.

In what might be seen as “a warning sign” for youthful people, “many companies in China, including many tech companies, have laid off quite a lot of staff”, she adds.

She also says that significant areas of the economy, which had once been large employers of graduates, are offering sub-standard conditions, and decent opportunities in these fields are disappearing altogether.

While they work out what to do in the upcoming, unemployed graduates have also been turning to the film and television industry.

large monetary schedule movies require lots of extras to fill out their scenes and, in China’s famous film production town of Hengdian, south-west of Shanghai, there are plenty of youthful people looking for acting work.

“I mainly stand beside the protagonist as eye candy. I am seen next to the navigator actors but I have no lines,” says Wu Xinghai, who studied electronic information engineering, and was playing a bodyguard in a drama.

The 26-year ancient laughs that his excellent looks have helped him become employed as an extra.

He says people often arrive to Hengdian and work for just a few months at a period. He says this is a temporary fix for him too, till he finds something permanent. “I don’t make much money but I’m relaxed and feel free.”

“This is the circumstance in China, isn’t it? The instant you graduate, you become unemployed,” says Li, who didn’t desire to provide his first name.

He majored in film directing and screenwriting and has also signed up to work as an extra for a few months.

“I’ve arrive here to look for work while I’m still youthful. When I get older, I’ll discover a stable job.”

But many terror they’ll never land a decent job and may have to settle for a role unlike what they had imagined.

The lack of confidence in the trajectory of the Chinese economy means youthful people often don’t recognize what the upcoming will hold for them.

Wu Dan says even her friends who are employed can feel quite lost.

“They are quite confused and feel that the upcoming is ambiguous. Those with jobs aren’t satisfied with them. They don’t recognize for how long they can hold onto these positions. And if they misplace their current job, what else can they do?”

She says she will just “leave with the flow and gradually explore what I really desire to do”.