Higher education enrollment expansion causes the difficulty for college graduates to find jobs

The China Labor Market Report 2012 was released in Beijing on November 17th.  Authored and edited by the Research Center of Labor Market  of Beijing Normal University and published by Beijing Normal University Press, the report explores the convergence and interaction between education and labor market, as well as their mutual influence on overall economic development and vice-versa.

The report revealed that the dramatic increase in enrollment in higher education beginning at the end of the 20th century has resulted in a substantial expansion of human capital.  In addition to further stimulating economic growth, the report detailed 10 significant changes in labor markets also resulting from higher university attendance and a higher education rate, including an increase in the education level and skills of laborers, an uneven distribution of college graduates, greater difficulties securing employment for both college graduates and migrant workers, over-education in some regions and industries, and expanding labor mobility, among others.

The report’s editor and director of the School of Economics and Business Administration at Beijing Normal University, Lai Desheng, said that laborer capability is one of the key determinants of economic growth.  According to the findings, the matriculation rate for higher education in China maintained constant growth in the first decade of the 21st century.  In total, the proportion of the workforce with college degrees increased nearly 6 percent, from 4.66% in 2000 to 10.05% in 2010.

While some experts argue that China’s income disparity will continue to escalate, others anticipate a slight abatement in the degree of expansion.  However, the report concludes that China may have already ushered in a turning point in its societal income gap, citing a more educated workforce as the primary catalyst behind waning income disparity.  As higher education becomes more available to every region and income demographic, the gap should continue to contract.

In recent years, a high unemployment rate among recent college graduates has been a major concern for China.  Many believe that the sharp increase in college enrollment has resulted in ever-higher numbers of graduates competing for fewer jobs. The reports notes that the adjustment between China’s economic structure and the labor market has been too slow, resulting in a surplus of workers with degrees or who have received some form of higher education.  However, this is not entirely negative, as it leads to reserves of human capital that will be utilized and more optimally distributed with future economic structural adjustment.

Lai Desheng observed that the labor market requires more profound changes in order to reap higher economic returns from education and better balance the available human capital with the needs of China’s economy.

Huo Wenqi is reporter from Chinese Social Sciences Today

Chinese Social Sciences Today, No.381, Nov. 19, 2012.

(Translated by Yang Lu)