Chinese university graduates are facing a job crisis, and AI is accelerating to replace entry-level white-collar jobs

China's university graduates are facing an employment crisis, AI is accelerating to replace entry-level white-collar jobs, and the high unemployment rate among young people may become a social and political risk. (AFP file photo)

[Compiled by Lu Yongshan/Comprehensive Report] The New York Times reported that a record number of college graduates have entered the workforce in China this year. While China’s economy is facing a slowdown, the strong rise of artificial intelligence (AI) has made the situation of these fresh workers even worse. AI technology has begun to subvert China's labor structure, replacing many traditional entry-level white-collar jobs and causing structural transformation pressure on youth employment.

China's estimated 12.7 million college graduates this year, like graduates of past years, face an oversaturated job market and must compete for dwindling entry-level positions amid sluggish economic growth. The uncertainty brought by AI also brings new challenges to them. AI is reshaping various industries and changing the focus of recruitment companies.

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In July this year, the unemployment rate among young people aged 16 to 24 in urban China, excluding school students, reached 17. Nine percent. The growth in high-paying jobs for college graduates has not kept pace with the surge in college enrollment. For China's leaders, who have long bolstered their regime's legitimacy primarily through promises of economic prosperity, high youth unemployment threatens to become a source of political instability.

Scott Singer, co-director of the China AI Initiative at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP), said that any negative effects that AI may have on youth unemployment, no matter how small, are indeed sensitive to the Chinese Communist Party. China is very worried about the impact of AI on the job market. This may be their biggest concern about AI at the moment.

Worried about the social and political unrest that the AI ​​revolution could bring, Beijing is putting pressure on companies to avoid layoffs. The Chinese government has sent clear signals through multiple court decisions that it does not accept companies using the cost savings brought by AI as a reason to fire employees.

Experts point out that China's two major employment industries, manufacturing and food delivery, are most clearly feeling the impact of AI and automation, and the impact on white-collar jobs has just begun to appear.

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