Undergraduate students wearing face masks attend a graduation ceremony in Tsinghua University, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease , in Beijing, China, on June 23, 2020.Just three months ago, Jin Jing saw her future career after graduating in either Hangzhou or Shanghai, the two major cities closest to her hometown.
She was referring to the large-scale lockdowns affecting many parts of China and the tough job market as the country battles its worst Covid-19 wave since the Wuhan outbreak in 2019. A record 10.76 million college graduates are set to enter the mainland Chinese job market this year, according to the Ministry of Education.
In response, Dai took a train from Shanghai to Zhengzhou, the capital of central China's Henan province, on Friday last week, and after spending a week in quarantine she will be returning to her home village in nearby Xinxiang city. Around half of them expected to be hired after graduating, also down by six per cent from last year, while an increasing percentage said they would try freelancing or simply postpone job hunting altogether.