Those of the “only child” generation will not have enough money to care for their elderly parents in the future. The average monthly salary of a recent graduate is 885 euros. Exorbitant housing prices weigh heavily. Youth unemployment is close to 17% in urban areas. A social upheaval is taking place in the country.
Beijing () – Low wages are a nightmare for young Chinese. It is the “only child” generation that in an increasingly aging society will have problems caring for their elderly parents.
According to data from the online recruitment agency Zhaopin, the average monthly salary of a young graduate in his first work experience is 6,507 yuan (about 885 euros). Only 10.7% of recent graduates in China get a salary of more than 10,000 yuan (1,360 euros); 6% does not even reach 3,000 (408 euros).
These figures do not allow them to save money, given the increase in the cost of living, especially to access housing in the cities. That without taking into account that almost 17% of Chinese between the ages of 16 and 24 are unemployed, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. This figure is three times higher than that of any age group (5.5% in December), and does not include the rural population.
The situation caused a social upheaval. Chinese youth no longer want to work in factories and prefer small jobs to the boring and low-paying jobs of manufacturing.
Instead of working on the assembly line, new recruits choose to stay at home, adding to the family budget. They are the “recumbents”: young people who do the bare minimum in their jobs or studies, tired of exhausting hours of activity, growing consumer spending and prohibitive housing prices. A passive attitude that the Chinese Communist Party sees as a threat to the great plans for “national renewal” that Xi Jinping wants.
