The picture shows on September 26, 2020, college graduates gathered at the job fair of Henan University of Science and Technology in Luoyang City, Henan Province. (Zhang Yixi/VCG via Getty Images△)
[The Epoch Times, March 18, 2023](Interview and report by Epoch Times reporter Li Yun) The employment situation in China is severe, and a new type of occupation “full-time sons and daughters” has become popular. A survey report on fresh graduates shows that 13.3% of the respondents admit that they are “full-time children” of their parents.
China Central Television said on March 16 that in the past three years, the number of Chinese college graduates has continued to rise. Due to the increasing downward pressure on the economy and the impact on the employment situation, it is becoming more and more difficult to find a job with a professional match and a fair salary.
In the face of job hunting difficulties, a new type of occupation “full-time children” is popular, that is, to take care of parents at home full-time, and parents pay wages.
On March 17, the “2023 “Kaogongren” Job Hunting Observation Report” released by the Chinese human resources service provider “Worry-free” stated that the identity of fresh graduates seems to have become an “invisible shackle”, and 13.3% of the respondents admitted that they They are “full-time children” of their parents.
Netease issued an article on the 15th, saying that a group of young people who had just graduated went home to prepare for the exam, or because they could not find a job, they became “full-time children”. On Douban, there are 2,948 people in the “Full-time Children’s Work Exchange Center” group, most of whom are highly educated. Due to the poor employment situation, they have become “full-time children”.
Media people analyze behind the issue of “full-time children”
On March 18, Mr. Huang, a mainland media person, told the Epoch Times reporter: “We have two full-time children in our family. My second sister and my brother are both full-time children. Why? When my second sister was taking care of my dad, My dad’s pension is also used to pay her wages. Now my brother takes care of my dad, and my eldest sister directly pays him my dad’s salary.”
According to Mr. Huang’s analysis, the popularity of “full-time sons and daughters” is caused by various reasons: The first reason is that China’s economic environment is not good, and many people are unemployed. For example, my brother used to sell cars. After three years of epidemic prevention and control, many people had no money to buy cars. He was unemployed at home, and it happened that my dad needed help when he was in the hospital, so he became a full-time son. “
Mr. Huang’s second sister did not work in the countryside. He said that all migrant workers in China are unemployed, but the government will not count them as unemployed.
He went on to say: “The second reason is that China has entered an aging society. Many elderly people have reached a high incidence period and have underlying diseases. They need someone to take care of them. Instead of hiring outsiders, it is better to spend money to hire your unemployed children at home.
“The third reason is that there are some only children who have been spoiled and spoiled since they were young. They don’t adapt to the competition in society, and they are unwilling to go out to find a job. Even if the family conditions are good, they just do housework at home to please their parents, and then their parents pay them a little salary. “
It is a common phenomenon for international students to become “full-time children”
On March 12, the official account “PeerBang Studying Abroad” stated in the article “Spending Millions to Study Abroad and Can’t Find a Job, I Became a Full-Time Daughter…” It has become a common phenomenon to become a “full-time son and daughter” after returning from studying abroad. Facing the reality of obstacles in job hunting and introverted academic qualifications, they choose to be “full-time children” as a roundabout tactic.
The article also mentioned a father who spent huge sums of money for his son to study abroad, hoping that his son would have a better development after returning from school. However, after the son returned from studying abroad, he became a “full-time son”. Such a comfortable and comfortable day gave him the idea of ”gnawing to the end”. For the next ten years, he didn’t go out to look for a job, and stayed at home as a “full-time son”.
On March 6, Toutiao News published the self-report of a fresh graduate. He is a 23rd-grade fresh graduate from a 211 university and majored in marketing. The family lives in a second-tier city, and both parents work within the system. The family has 3 suites and a car worth 500,000 yuan. And he couldn’t even find a job worth 5,000 yuan, so he discussed with his parents to go home and be a “full-time son”.
It’s hard to be a full-time child
Mr. Huang said: “Many college graduates and overseas returnees in 985 cannot find suitable jobs, and they are unwilling to do low-level jobs, so they can only stay at home. If parents have relatively high pensions, being a full-time child is also a waste of money. Choice, but he can’t be as savage as before.”
Many full-time children said on the Internet that they watched their parents’ faces carefully every day, bought vegetables, cooked meals, and did housework for them, and then asked them for a little money.
The public account “PeerBang Studying Abroad” posted an article saying: “Full-time children” seem to enjoy the stable life provided by their parents, but there are also many problems and contradictions. After all, children and their parents have generation gaps, different lifestyles, and different values, but when encountering conflicts, they can only be “people under the roof, have to bow their heads”, “eat people’s mouths are soft, and others’ hands are short.”
Mr. Huang said: “Many elderly people in rural China have no money to stay in the hospital when they get sick. Their children can’t work and they can’t be ‘full-time children’.”
Li Yuanhua, a scholar living in Australia, said: “The invention of the term ‘full-time children’ actually means that a large number of young people are unemployed, unable to find good jobs, and simply stay at home. The question now is whether ‘full-time children’ should marry and have children? If Parents have no income and continue to gnaw on the old? Not only does his generation gnaw on the old, but the next generation also gnaws on the old?”
Li Yuanhua pointed out: “The entire Chinese society is distorted, including the values. The more wealthy you are in a foreign country, the more you will be trained to go out to work earlier, and how much money you can earn. It is impossible to say that you After spending money from the family, the training is over, and you are still gnawing on the old when you come back.”
According to statistics from the Ministry of Education of the Communist Party of China, there will be as many as 10.76 million college graduates in 2022, and about 70% of them have not yet found a job. Under such a severe employment environment, the number of college graduates will hit a new high in 2023, and the scale is expected to reach 11.58 million, a year-on-year increase of 820,000. However, Chinese college students have already faced the dilemma of being unemployed after graduation a few years ago.
Responsible editor: Lin Yan#