China’s bleak employment data ‘could be worse’, as education authorities crack down on falsified figures

China is taking stringent measures to ensure the authenticity of employment data among university graduates, as universities are reportedly under pressure to fudge employment rates amid a challenging job market that poses one of the most significant threats to China’s already struggling economy.

The Ministry of Education has dispatched special inspection teams across the country to investigate employment-data accuracy and to crack down on any instances of falsification, it said on Friday as media reports revealed that colleges have been manipulating employment rates by forcing graduates to fabricate employment records or lie about their employment status.

The ministry reiterated that universities across the country are not allowed to “coerce graduates to sign employment agreements and labour contracts by any means, nor to link the issuance of degree certificates or diplomas with graduate contracts”.

As youth joblessness soars, China’s ‘blank paper’ graduates seen as unemployable

The ministry and other provincial departments are also collecting reports of misbehaviour and will punish those found to be fabricating data, while follow-up surveys to investigate the job placements of the 2023 college graduates will be implemented, according to the ministry.

“I think the actual state of youth unemployment in China could be worse than the data suggests, as colleges have incentives to inflate the employment rate,” said Henry Gao, a law professor at Singapore Management University. “There have been reports of colleges offering jobs to their own graduates just to paper over the data.”

The college employment rate is closely tied to funds, grants, new student admissions and even whether the major will be cancelled – the Ministry of Education stipulates that majors that have employment rates lower than 60 per cent for two years in a row could get cancelled.

The jobless rate for the 16-24 age group hit a new high of 21.3 per cent in June, up from 20.8 per cent in May and expected to rise further in July and August, with a record 11.58 million university graduates leaving campus this year.

Analysts say China is at the most difficult time for youth employment since the 1970s, and the challenges won’t disappear in the short term as the economic recovery continues to stumble and the private sector, which accounts for more than 80 per cent of urban employment, still struggles to retrieve confidence and momentum.

“Universities should strictly uphold the baseline of genuine and accurate employment data, rigorously review the employment materials of each graduate, and place special emphasis on verifying data related to ‘flexible employment’,” the ministry said.

‘More freedom’: China’s youth embrace ‘flexible’ work in bleak job market

According to China Comment, a bimonthly magazine run by state news agency Xinhua, schools are telling students to report gig jobs, or “flexible employment” as the employment status, and some schools even fabricate data to make the employment rate look more flattering than it is.

Some businesses even offer paid “stamp” services to help graduates with fake employment paperwork, according to a Beijing Youth Daily report.

China’s Communist Party Youth League pointed out in a recent report that falsifying employment rates can lead to “profound consequences”.

“No matter how difficult the job market is, we mustn’t dilute the truth,” the report said, adding that it is necessary to recalibrate ideological deviations, as well as reform the evaluation system for the employment status of university students.

South China Morning Post