The bigger corporations of china are laying off their staff in large numbers. This trend has been on the rise since the start of the year. The large scale layoffs are adding to an already severe crisis of unemployment within the country. The unemployment crisis is significantly affecting two sections of the society. These are:
- The employees, which are laid off.
- The students who have entered the job market after completing their graduation.
As per the official statistics from the government, urban youngsters aged 16 to 24 record a rate of unemployment of 20.4 per cent in April 2023. The experts however believe that these statistics are lower than the original numbers. Still, the rate signals towards a worrisome future for the Chinese youth. China’s National Bureau of Statistics revealed that this is the first time that the rate has climbed as high.
The government of china started publishing these statistics in 2018. This is a worrisome trend in light of the number of graduates who are venturing into the job market in 2023. This year, over 11.58 million graduates will venture into the employment market. In light of the low levels of jobs available, this number would lead to a phenomenon commonly known as “post-graduation unemployment.”
Meanwhile, major Chinese companies are adding to the crisis by their decision to layoff their staff. The reason for this crisis is economic downturn and intense geopolitical crises. Over 27% companies have already started layoffs and 43% companies plan to either implement layoffs or freeze recruitment. Prominent internet giants ByteDance, Tencent, and JD.com implemented layoffs on their staff earlier in 2023.
The crisis is prominent in the fact that one of the biggest corporations in China, Alibaba, also implemented layoffs. The organization removed 25,000 positions from across their operations. During the first quarter of 2023 the corporations reduced 4,524 employees.
