Jun 10 2016, 10:36 am | Posted by Jasmin Sasin

China Releases Measures to Give College Graduates New Opportunities

A stable economic growth, a continued progress in the structural reform and a policy that is supportive of entrepreneurship and employment generation are offering college graduates new opportunities. In a survey that was conducted by an education research company MyCOS Institute, showed that the employment rate of college graduates in 2015 was at 91.7 percent which is basically flat compared to the 92.1 percent for 2014 and 91.4 percent in 2013.

By breaking down the numbers, 92.2 percent of university graduates and 91.2 percent of graduates coming from junior colleges and vocational colleges to senior high school have already found jobs. Some 250,000 college graduates in 30 provincial level regions in the Chinese mainland underwent interviews in just six months after graduation. These means that the employment rate for Chinese college graduates is stable. The survey also showed that more graduates are starting their own businesses after graduating with 3 percent registering for a startup business in 2105 which is up by 1.2 percent.average monthly income for university graduates that started their own businesses was at 5,131 yuan.

Furthermore the findings showed that more college graduates are riding the wave of the country’s innovation driven development strategy. Initiatives such that Made in China 2025 and Internet Plus are helping the development of the service sector which facilitated that upgrading of traditional industries to create more jobs opportunities for college graduates. In 1999, China started an expanded enrollment program for college students in efforts to stimulate a weak economy and ease the employment pressure. Plus a similar program was done in 2009 to encourage postgraduate enrollment in the country as well. These two measures have resulted in an increase in graduate numbers and under a ambitious program, the number of graduates surged to 7.6 million on 2016 the highest in the history.

To help boost employment and sustain the growth that slowed down to 6.7 percent for the first quarter of 2016, the central government has modernized the economic model that featured new systems ans business models in which bolster the service sector and promote mass entrepreneurship. Plus a wider range of measures were unveiled ranging from financial support, facilitating construction and administrative assistance for startups.