Xi Orders Politburo to Focus on 'High Quality Employment' for College Graduates

A year after urging young people in China to "eat bitterness," or endure hardship, in their job search, President Xi Jinping has adopted a markedly different tone as the nation’s economy grapples with a sluggish recovery.

With youth unemployment persistently high—nearly three times the overall rate—China's president issued a directive on Tuesday to the Communist Party’s politburo, prioritizing the provision of “high-quality full employment” as a key economic goal.

Why does this matter?

This represents a notable departure from his comments last May, when he encouraged young people to embrace challenges, drawing parallels to his own experiences during the 1960s Cultural Revolution. As a teenager, Mr. Xi was dispatched to the countryside for manual labor, including shoveling manure, under Mao Zedong’s campaign.

Quality jobs for youth, top priority, says Xi

On Tuesday, Mr. Xi spoke about the importance of focusing on the employment prospects of college graduates and other youth demographics. “Give top priority to the employment of college graduates and other youth groups," Xi said to the Politburo. 

“[We should] develop more jobs that are conducive to giving full play to their knowledge and strengths,” he added, as per a report from Xinhua.

China's economy expanded by more than 5 percent in the first quarter compared to a year earlier. However, according to a report from the Financial Times, economists describe the recovery as uneven, driven mainly by manufacturing, exports, and government investment. Household consumption and investor sentiment remain subdued, partly due to a lingering slump in the property sector.

Last year, China had a youth unemployment rate of 21 percent 

Last June, the National Bureau of Statistics reported a youth unemployment rate exceeding 21 percent before abruptly ceasing the publication of these figures to “refine their methodology”. When the data was reintroduced in December, now excluding students, the rate stood at 14.7 percent in April, a slight decrease from 15.3 percent the previous month but still considerably higher than the urban unemployment rate of 5 percent.

In his address to the politburo, Mr. Xi underscored the necessity of encouraging young people to seek employment and entrepreneurship opportunities in critical sectors, including urban and rural grassroots areas and small and medium-sized enterprises. With approximately 12 million graduates poised to enter the workforce this year, many are struggling to find jobs that match their qualifications or offer salaries sufficient to justify their educational expenses.

Mr. Xi urged leaders to analyze the labor market disparities and address the issue of “there are jobs but no one to do them.”

A look at how Beijing's tune changed in a year 

A year ago, Chinese state media lauded Mr. Xi’s arduous experiences in the countryside in 1969 as an exemplar for contemporary youth. Articles vividly described his laborious tasks, such as collecting manure, and extolled the virtues of enduring hardship.

“To collect manure you had to take off your shoes, roll up your trouser legs, [and] jump in barefoot,” one article quoted him as saying. “[Xi] was covered in sweat and manure and urine, mixed together, wet and smelly.” The piece emphasized that “only by passing the labor test and establishing the idea of ‘seeking hardship for oneself’ can you… make your thoughts closer to the people.”

Now, the fact that Xi himself has said that focus should be on providing quality employment opportunities for young people, is significant. Xi has realised that the issue of youth unemployment cannot be dismissed away with “toughen up” rhetoric. Concrete policies have to be formulated to solve the problem, and that is exactly what Xi expects from China's political class.