China’s graduate glut: millions enter a job market with little use for them

Record numbers find there is little demand for their skills, as entry-level tech roles are hit by AI and automation This time of year is graduation season in China: traditionally a bittersweet period of solemn goodbyes and family celebrations as university students transition from campus life into adulthood. Now it also increasingly represents trepidation about the future. Each year, millions more graduates are thrust into China’s already saturated jobs market. The situation for this year’s cohort, flooding into an increasingly crowded pool of applicants fighting for an insufficient number of positions, is arguably the bleakest yet. Jasmine, a 22-year-old who studied accounting in Shanghai, is among this year’s record 12.7 million college graduates – a 480,000 increase on 2025. She expected to find a job as soon as she finished university, but has sent out about 150 CVs over the past month without success. “It has been much harder than I imagined,” she says. “The lack of vacancies is one issue, and the competition is also intense, especially for jobs that offer weekends off and proper social insurance.” While the jobless rate among 16- to 24-year-olds is 15.6% in Ch