Youths in China seek jobs overseas as unemployment rate remains at 17% for 16-24-year-olds: Zaobao

On Dec. 18, 2025, China's National Bureau of Statistics announced that the unemployment rate for youths aged 16 to 24 in November 2025 was 16.9 per cent.

This was the lowest in four months. In comparison, the unemployment rate for the population group reached as high as 18.9 per cent in August 2025.

In view of the high unemployment rate, some Chinese youths decided to look for employment opportunities overseas.

Intense competition at home

Speaking to Lianhe Zaobao, a Human Resources professional in China, who wishes only to be known as Xiao Bo, shared that he had been preparing for emigration for three years.

He shared that his plan was either to become a professional caregiver in Australia or to join the Légion Étrangère, a French military unit composed of foreign nationals.

As an HR professional at a state-owned enterprise in China, Xiao Bo revealed that he began planning after witnessing firsthand how headcounts in companies continued shrinking over the years.

Reduced headcount also made job competition more intense.

For instance, Xiao Bo shared that his company used to select 15 people from 400 candidates for a position that pays a monthly salary of 3,500 yuan (S$642) in 2022.

In 2023, 1,000 candidates applied for eight such positions at his company.

Fewer positions overseas

Besides worrying about intensifying competition in the Chinese job market, Xiao Bo told Zaobao that he was also concerned about the increasingly slim chance of finding a job overseas.

For example, the professionals that were in demand over the last few years in Australia were nurses, social workers, and preschool teachers.

However, in 2025, the supply of preschool teachers had surpassed the demand, claimed Xiao Bo.

Determined to emigrate

Despite the declining opportunities overseas, Xiao Bo told Zaobao he was determined to leave China.

Besides China's poor economic outlook, Xiao Bo also cited the toxic work environment in his current company as one of the push factors.

According to him, his company not only host communist ideology meetings on rest days but also monitors employees' social media platforms weekly by connecting their private mobile phones to the company's system.

When his company found out that Xiao Bo had donated cryptocurrencies to Ukraine to support its fight against Russia, it deducted 800 yuan (S$146) from his salary, leaving his total at 2,600 yuan (S$477).

This incident also eliminated his chances of getting a promotion in the company, as he was no longer considered faithful to China's Russia-friendly stance in the Russia-Ukraine war.

As such, Xiao Bo had no other options but to leave:

"There are only three options for young people in China nowadays: lie flat, join the rat race, or emigrate overseas. Joining the rat race is no longer an option, and emigration may soon no longer be an option. That is why I need to hurry up. I pray I can escape before emigration became impossible."

Many also considering heading overseas

Xiao Bo was not the only Chinese youth who was considering heading overseas.

A Chinese student currently studying overseas, surnamed Yong, told Zaobao that he had accumulated over 30,000 followers in a few months after posting content online about how ordinary Chinese citizens can emigrate.

Concurrently, the membership for his online chat group, created only four months ago in September 2025 to share information on jobs overseas and immigration, had already surpassed 4,000.

According to Yong, most group members were aged 16 to 35 and had bachelor's or associate's degrees.

When offering one-to-one consultation to group members, Yong claimed that he had met a student from Peking University, one of China's most prestigious universities.

His other clients included middle-aged information technology professionals who were looking to become plumbers or electricians overseas after being retrenched in China.

Life overseas not easy

However, for those who already left China, life overseas was not all sunshine and roses.

Speaking to Zaobao, a 28-year-old Chinese national, surnamed Guan, who currently works overseas, shared that he first found a job in Indonesia after sending out around 300 resumes.

After working as an accountant in Indonesia for a year, Guan was expatriated to the conflict-afflicted Democratic Republic of Congo in October 2025.

However, shortly after he arrived in the country, he contracted malaria.

Guan shared that he chose Africa initially because he could save two to three times as much money there as in Indonesia.

He wanted to accumulate enough savings so that he could emigrate to Germany next, added Guan.

Drop in salaries for positions overseas

Guan also told Zaobao that, with more Chinese nationals seeking employment overseas, competition for positions had become more intense.

This enlarged candidate pool also led to a drop in salaries for overseas positions.

"10 years ago, it was common for expatriates in Africa to earn 1 million yuan (S$183,518). Now, companies only need to pay slightly over 10,000 yuan, and they still do not need to worry about not finding someone," lamented Guan.

Top image via 睡觉💤/Xiaohongshu