The employment concerns behind the 11.58 million [two sessions to make college graduates "employable" requires the joint efforts of multiple parties]
According to statistics from the Ministry of Education, the number of college graduates nationwide in 2023 is expected to reach 11.58 million, a year-on-year increase of 820,000.
Employment is the biggest livelihood of the people.
Every year at the National Two Sessions, the employment of college graduates is a hot topic of concern to the delegates.
This year too.
A number of representatives said that compared with previous years, the employment situation of college graduates this year is still severe, and the structural contradictions of "difficulty in recruiting workers" for enterprises and "difficulty in employment" for graduates still exist.
Today, there are both new forces and new employment forms in the job market.
Many representatives believe that for the newcomers in the workplace born after 2000, they have a stronger sense of autonomy in choosing a career and more diverse career choices.
For practitioners in flexible employment and new employment forms, the protection of relevant rights and interests should be strengthened in accordance with the law.
The "structural contradiction" of college students' employment still exists
This year's government work report pointed out that "prominently do a good job in the employment of college graduates." How to effectively solve this concern about the livelihood of thousands of households has become a hot topic for many representatives.
"To do a good job in the employment of college students with high quality, we still face many challenges." Shi Weidong, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and president of Nantong University, told reporters.
According to Shi Weidong's analysis, the current situation is that the total number of college graduates has reached a new high, and at the same time, the structural contradictions of "difficulty in recruiting workers" for enterprises and "difficulty in employment" for graduates still exist.
The reason is that, on the one hand, the employment expectations of college graduates are getting higher and higher, and the trend of seeking stability is increasing, and some graduates are overly yearning for "in-system" jobs; There is a shortage of skilled personnel, and regional differences in the recruitment process are also obvious.
In this regard, Wang Xiaofei, a deputy to the National People's Congress and a senior technician of Dezhou Hengfeng Group in Shandong Province, has a deep understanding, "Our first-line manufacturing factories have always had a talent gap. Especially in recent years, it has become increasingly difficult to recruit people. On the one hand It is because textile majors are becoming less and less popular in universities, and young people prefer emerging and cutting-edge majors; on the other hand, objective conditions such as high temperature and high humidity in factories still exist, and it is indeed more difficult than 'sitting in an office'. Professional students will also choose to take postgraduate entrance examinations, public examinations, or change careers.”
Aiming at the employment difficulties of graduates at this stage, Liu Lin, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and president of Beijing City University, conducted a special investigation before the meeting.
Liu Lin pointed out that many current opinions attribute the main reason for the employment difficulties of college graduates this year to the disconnection between the disciplines and majors of colleges and universities and the actual economic and social development. This analysis is not unreasonable. At this stage, the employment difficulties of college graduates are indeed partly due to the problems of college personnel training and students' employment concepts. This is an old problem, but it is not the main reason for this year's employment difficulties."
"The main reason for employment difficulties this year is that the economy and society are still in the process of recovery after the epidemic, and effective demand is insufficient at this stage. In other words, the main difficulty now lies in the supply side of jobs, not in colleges and students." Liu Lin said, Employers have less space to tap potential positions than before, and this is a problem that needs to be paid attention to.
"What is the so-called potential tapping? In the past, in order to solve the employment difficulties of college students, the government took various measures, such as expanding the enrollment of second degrees, expanding the enrollment of graduate students, and expanding the enrollment of higher vocational education. However, after several years of enrollment expansion, the resulting Problems such as tight conditions for running schools in colleges and universities have also emerged. In a sense, there is not much room for relieving employment pressure through college enrollment expansion.” Liu Lin said.
Zhong Zhangtei, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and professor of Beijing Jiaotong University, believes that the three-year epidemic has had a great impact on the employment situation. Many enterprises, especially private enterprises, have been impacted to varying degrees. At present, private enterprises are the main force providing jobs. .
"If the world economy recovers well this year, the employment situation in the second half of the year will improve. If the world economy recovers slowly this year, employment will also be affected." Team Zhong Zhang said.
After 00 enters the workplace, new features emerge
The employment of college students has always been a hot topic on the Internet. In recent years, topics such as "post-00s rectify the workplace" and "college graduates' five-year deposit of 5,000 yuan" have often become hot topics on the Internet.
The reason behind the swiping of the screen is also related to the change in the concept of job hunting among young people of this generation.
"It is a real phenomenon that post-00s are reorganizing their workplaces, showing that they are trying to find ways to adapt to the current workplace environment and ensure that their work can meet their personal needs," said Zheng Yali, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and dean of Zhejiang Vocational College of Finance.
Zheng Yali was deeply impressed by the post-2000 students she met in school: "They show their individuality, adhere to principles, and also work hard. They have a stronger sense of autonomy in career selection, more diverse career choices, and pay more attention to employment experience and value expression. Therefore, the so-called 'post-2000s workplace rectification phenomenon' just reminds employers that while meeting the needs of young employees, they must also make full use of their potential and abilities to create more value for the unit."
Zheng Yali believes that graduates born in the 2000s are living in an era of richer material, spiritual, and cultural life, and the space for personal choice is guaranteed; while technological progress and economic development have made the division of labor in various industries more and more specialized, mass entrepreneurship, mass Innovation has also led to the emergence of more and more emerging industries and continuously broadened employment channels, which is also the basis for ensuring that young people can have diverse employment.
"In a nutshell, post-2000 students now generally have a mentality of 'employment is not enough', and graduates' employment willingness tends to decrease." Shi Weidong said.
According to Shi Weidong's analysis, graduates have high expectations in terms of work location, salary, industry prospects, and professional counterparts, and are unwilling to lower their job-seeking standards.
In addition, some graduate groups have increased their willingness to wait and see.
In the post-epidemic period, more and more graduates tend to work in stable institutions, institutions, and state-owned enterprises, or choose to postpone employment, and some private enterprises with good development prospects are no longer as popular as before.
Shi Weidong also observed that when graduates from non-local sources are employed for the first time, conditions such as complete living facilities around the workplace, complete public service facilities, and convenient transportation have become important factors for them to choose a workplace.
"The reasons for these changes are inseparable from the improvement of the country's overall economic strength, the improvement of family economic conditions, the living and learning environment of graduates, the development of the cities where they study in colleges and universities, and the pursuit of a positive and comfortable working environment for post-00 graduates," Shi Weidong said. .
To make college students "employable" requires the joint efforts of multiple parties
Many representatives said that to solve the "employment difficulty", the government, employers, and universities need to form a joint force.
"On the whole, the demand for talents in my country's economic and social development can solve the problem of employment difficulties for college students this year." Liu Lin said that taking 2022 as an example, among the 162 million business entities in the country, nearly 40 million have recruitment needs. Only 2.65 million college graduates were actually recruited.
Generally speaking, the scale of demand can fully meet the employment of all college graduates.
The current contradictions mainly focus on the lack of effective demand suitable for the employment of college graduates, the information asymmetry between supply and demand, and the lack of precision in docking.
"The epidemic at the end of last year and the beginning of this year caused college employment and corporate recruitment to start later than in previous years. Therefore, the current employment data is not good. With the continuous adjustment and recovery of the economy, the effective demand for college students' employment is also picking up. Job hunting and recruitment are active. The speed is also increasing," Liu Lin said.
Nowadays, there are many students who have just graduated from college among the emerging "flexible employment" groups. In this regard, Xu Ling, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and vice president of Guangdong Technical Normal University, said that non-standard jobs such as seasonal employment, part-time jobs, and internships should be considered. For labor relations, specific provisions shall be made under the framework of the Labor Law or the Labor Standards Law to regulate labor in new forms of employment and protect the legitimate rights and interests of flexible employees.
How should college students establish a correct outlook on employment?
Zheng Yali believes that college students should acquire solid basic skills, have the skills to gain a foothold in society, actively adapt to market and actual needs, and constantly update their knowledge and skills.
In addition, it is necessary to take the initiative to seek jobs, actively seek employment opportunities, familiarize yourself with the workplace through job experience, internships, etc., and prepare for job hunting.
After the new semester started this year, Shi Weidong found that the employment characteristics of students had some new changes compared with previous years.
On the one hand, the economic recovery trend of Jiangsu Province is obvious, and the demand of enterprises and employers in Nantong and surrounding areas is strong, and the economic confidence boosting effect is obvious; on the other hand, the initiative of graduates to find jobs has increased, and employment practice started earlier The cognition of high-quality positions in enterprise units is more scientific.
Shi Weidong would like to say to college students who are looking for jobs: "Do a good job in career planning, establish a correct concept of employment, and in the post-epidemic era, don't lie down."
China Youth Daily China Youth Daily reporter Ye Yuting Fan Weichen Zhang Miao trainee reporter Yang Jie (China Youth Daily)