Beijing — China has broadened the definition of a job to include more flexible forms of work for new graduates, as the government struggles with high unemployment due to the coronavirus downturn.
Graduates starting their own businesses, such as opening online shops, or taking freelance jobs, like bloggers and esports players, will be classified as employed, according to a document by the education ministry. The scope of employment includes taking part in incubator programmes, poverty alleviation programmes, and being enlisted in the army.
People must work at least one paid hour a week to be counted as employed, according to the national bureau of statistics.
The ministry asked universities and colleges to adhere to the new rules when collating employment data and revise any existing incorrect data. False information would be severely punished, the ministry said, without specifying how.
The new rules echo comments made last month by a senior adviser to the government, who called for a more tolerant stance towards job forms and unemployment data.
“College students don’t necessarily need to go to a work unit. More and more we are seeing they have many choices, including freelancing,” said Tang Min, an economist and counsellor to the state council. “They can open a Taobao store or engage in cross border e-commerce. They can start their own business with just a laptop and create a new job opportunity.”
China has a record 8.74-million graduates entering the job market this year. That adds pressure to the labour situation, with millions of workers unemployed due to the coronavirus.
The nation’s official surveyed unemployment rate was 5.9% in May after jumping to a record high 6.2% in February due to the virus. The government is targeting “about 6%” for this year, but the calculation is flawed as it does not count many migrant workers from the countryside.
The Chinese government has rolled out a slew of measures to try keep the official tallies of jobless low, including encouraging students to remain at universities for postgraduate study, allowing some vocational graduates to further pursue studies, and increasing recruitment for certain roles such as teachers in rural regions.
Bloomberg
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