RED DUSK

For the past few decades, China enjoyed a red dawn as its economy flourished, thanks to rapid urbanisation and a thriving export-focused economy. Are the harbingers of a red dusk here?

- SUFFIAN HAKIM

AN OLD WORK FRIEND from Guangzhou, Danielle (not her real name), told me about her brother’s plight recently. For context, her brother holds a master’s degree in Engineering and is based in Guangzhou. Unfortunately, he has been unemployed for the past year and a half. “He had a job during COVID!” she exclaimed, pointing out the irony. But she explained that it was a menial one, something around data entry. “He said it was beneath him,” she added, with equal sympathy and exasperation towards her brother.

This story is among many I’ve been hearing of Chinese millennials — some of whom have impressive qualifications — who find themselves unemployed or working in jobs they are overqualified for. This was rather unexpected, not just because China has been posting at least nine percent growth annually for the past 40 years — pre-COVID, at least. Most millennials were born when China had a one-child policy that began in 1980 — a policy borne out of policymakers fearing China did not have enough arable land to feed its population; a policy that only officially ended in 2016. But population control should ensure that there are enough jobs and resources to go around, right? Not quite.