Slow growth raises spectre of unemployment in China

BEIJING: As its economy slows down due to falling external demand, China faces unemployment problem as a record number of 6.8 million new college graduates poured in to the job market this year.

"That's a record high for China, and their prospects aren't helped by a shrinking economy", a report in the state-run CCTV said.

According to the MyCos Research Institute, half of this year's grads are still struggling to find jobs.

"This bachelor degree certificate used to be a magic key for Chinese grads to a high-paid job.

But now, for many of them here, its really little more than permission to rent a bed in a job-seekers' dormitory" Hang Peng, of Beijing, one of the unemployed said.

This year, close to seven million college grads are entering the work force.

That's a record high for China, the report said. Sarah Jones, human resources expert of Antal International China, said, "The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security detailed that every year only 12 million jobs are created."

"And the rest of the population here in China. So it doesn't take a mathematician to start working out where the burgeoning problems lie here today in 2012," she said.

Also the competition between the local graduates and those studying abroad is sharpening, she said.

There are a lot more Chinese graduates who were studying in the US or the UK.

"So not only you have to compete with your next door neighbour who went to (local) Nanjing University and got the same degree, but you are also competing with an influx of students who have automatically an international platform," Sarah Jones told CCTV.