Unemployment of China generation Z is so bad that young job seekers pay to pretend to work in an office

Young adults in China pay between 30 and 50 yuan per day, or about $ 4.20 at $ 7, to sit in false office configurations across the country led by working. These are hot spots for Chinese unemployment Gen Z to work on their own start-ups, applies to roles to open or simply to sit in the company of other young people in difficulty looking for an opportunity. Simulations often offer computers for use, as well as free snacks, lunch and drinks.

These false working locations appear in major cities, including Shenzhen, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chengdu and Kunming, according to the reports of Bbc.

China’s unemployment is raised in heaven at 14.5% for 16 to 24 years, there are many unemployed professionals with whom to compract in these “pretending to work” locations. It may seem counterproductive for the unemployed to spend their money pretending to work in an office – but spaces can be better to stimulate a new opportunity than isolated job seekers in their apartments, according to experts.

“The phenomenon of pretension to work is now very common,” said Christian Yao, a lecturer at the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, said Bbc.

“Due to the economic transformation and the inadequacy between education and the labor market, young people need these places to reflect on their next steps, or to do small work as a transition … Office companies do as one of the transitional solutions.”

Unemployment crisis of China’s Z generation: “people of rats” and “flat lying”

The professionals of the Z generation Z of China had trouble scoring jobs for years – and the pandemic only killed the need for new opportunities.

In 2023, the situation was so disastrous that the unemployment rate of young people in China was estimated at 46.5%, according to the professor of economics at the Beijing University Zhang Dandan. After three months of young record unemployment that year, the Chinese government stopped making statistics on the issue. The breathtaking unemployment rate included 16 million young Chinese workers who withdrew from the active population by “flowing flat” – with the strict minimum to manage and not hunt high power careers.

The Chinese government is also involved in changing disturbing young people unemployment rates; In 2011, the Ministry of Education warned that all the majors of colleges with a job of less than 60% for two years in a row could be completely removed. To ensure that their disciplines are not closed, certain universities of China have asked graduates to falsify their employment status to maintain programs on the move.

“I think that the real state of unemployment of young people in China could be worse than the data suggests, because colleges are encouraged to inflate the employment rate,” said Henry Gao, professor of law to Singapore Management University SCCP In 2023. “There were college reports offering jobs to their own graduates just for data on data.”

Although there are indications that unemployment rates are improving, being a jobless professional is so common in China that young people proudly carry their unemployment as a badge of honor.

Instead of the “Patron of the Girls”, the Zers outside work generation is called “the people of the rats”, spending their days sticking, scrolling on their phones, napping and ordering take -out dishes. It is a social media trend that swept Weibo, Rednote and Douyin, because young people burned are exhausted by few opportunities and crushed by despair.

“This trend is more than the disengagement of generation Z, it is a quiet manifestation of young people who respond to professional exhaustion, disillusionment and a job market that feels both punishing and inviting,” said Advita Patel, Confidence and Career Coach, and President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, said Fortune. “When you are constantly applying for jobs and you are a ghost or rejected, it can be incredibly damaging to confidence and mental well-being.”

Call the unemployed Gen Zers: Do you spend money for special services or false office configurations, in your quest for land work? We would be delighted to hear your experience – please contact you at emma.burleigh@fortune.com