College Degrees Lose Their Magic in China
Graduates Flood the Job Market
By Peter S. Goodman
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, August 19, 2003; Page A01
HANGZHOU, China -- Lai Chuanlong frowned anxiously as he waited his turn among the hordes of recent college graduates, all jostling for a chance to sit on a folding chair opposite a recruiter from a local company.
Tall and slim, he held his shoulders erect as a protective barrier against those with designs on cutting in front. He was concentrating on the objective at hand -- gaining a place in the white-collar world that only last year seemed guaranteed for a holder of a college degree in modern-day China.
No longer. This recent job fair in this city on China's east coast turned out to be a trading pit of disappointment and dashed dreams. Like many of the thousands of other graduates here, Lai, 24, was the first in his family to attend college, the son of illiterate villagers who borrowed heavily to pay for his education. It seemed a no-risk investment in a brighter future. Two months after his graduation, however, prospects remain bleak. Other than a brief stint as a factory laborer and a job offer at a supermarket for about $2 per day, Lai has found no work. At the job fair, he added his résumé to piles of them, hoping to secure a job that pays $100 a month.
"Going to college was my dream, but the pressure to find a job is getting intense," Lai said. "I'm getting more and more nervous."
Throughout the world's most populous country, a dramatic surge in the number of college graduates has created fierce competition for the relatively high-paying office jobs that were once conveyed almost by right to anyone with a university degree. Where once college graduation ensured passage into the ranks of a privileged elite, this year it became a gateway to worry, diminished hopes and the prospect of unemployment -- the result not only of larger class sizes but also of lowered educational standards at newer institutions.
washingtonpost.com |
