Crackdown on universities manipulating employment data

China’s Ministry of Education has ordered universities and colleges to rectify any ‘mistakes’ they have made in reporting graduate employment data, with major discrepancies between reported and real figures likely to result in ‘heavy punishment’, the ministry said.

Graduate employment has been declared a priority issue for the leadership which is struggling to gauge the real extent of the jobs crisis amid inaccurate reporting by local authorities and by universities, often because positive graduate employment data enables the latter to rank higher in the government’s university rankings, giving them access to increased government funding.

Official media has reported in the past that some universities, particularly second-tier institutions, had been faking work contracts or employment agreements in order to improve their performance ratings.

Employment statistics have become a major issue due to the COVID-19 pandemic which has caused economic havoc in many Chinese regions due to strict lockdowns and travel bans.

“The employment situation of university graduates in 2020 is very grim and the task of ‘guaranteeing employment’ very difficult,” the ministry said in a June circular.

Ministry guidelines sent to several universities said graduate employment data provided by institutions would be cross-checked with the graduates and their employers for consistency.

Graduates are also encouraged to check their information on a government-operated platform and report any potential discrepancies.

Discrepancies should be corrected before 4 July. “Problems discovered must be verified and after [4 July] will be regarded as data falsification, that will be notified and severely punished,” the circular said without specifying what the punishments could be.

The move outlined in a ministry circular dated 29 June, follows inspections of universities last month together with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). More inspections are due in August.

Some 8.74 million students graduated in June. China’s official jobless rate was reported by the NBS to be 5.9% at the end of May, excluding migrant workers who number 290 million and have been particularly affected by the coronavirus lockdowns.

The unemployment rate among young people aged 20 to 24, most of them fresh graduates, rose 1.7% between April and May and was 3.3% more than a year earlier, according to the NBS. But many believe these figures to be a gross underestimate, in part because they are based on inflated figures from local regions.

By comparison, during the 2003 SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) crisis which did not have as wide an impact as COVID-19, unemployment among new graduates was as high as 30%.

Last month a Chinese online recruitment platform, Boss Direct Employment, said in a report that the demand for graduates in small companies had decreased by 60% compared to this time last year.

Data to include new types of jobs

In a move that experts said was designed to improve employment figures to include flexible employment and online tasks, the definition of employment can include blogging, selling items online and competitive online gaming.

“This year’s epidemic prevention and control also spawned some new occupations,” the ministry said in a separate circular on what counts as employment.

The ministry said an overhaul of graduate employment statistics was necessary because of new employment situations emerging in recent years but particularly during the pandemic, and also because of a rise in fraudulent employment certificates in recent years.

A statement by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security added a number of new professions, mainly in health and emerging industries, to its list of occupations, including blockchain technicians, online marketers, information security testers, online learning consultants and community health assistants, among others, according to the official Xinhua News Agency this week.

Universities have been under increased pressure after they were given the task of helping graduates find jobs. Last month China’s coastal province of Fujian called on universities and colleges to ensure that at least 70% of their graduating cohort were employed by this September.

A university administrator in Fujian province told University World News last month that the employment rate among the graduating class was around 45% to 50% this year compared to over 95% this time last year.

The Shanghai Municipal Government told universities last month to strengthen communication with employers and provide more online opportunities for job hunting. It said this year’s employment rate of graduates would be included in the performance evaluation at institutions.

Expand recruitment

To boost employment, the Chinese government has opened up more vacancies for graduates in the civil service and the military, and has created extra positions in state-owned enterprises for fresh graduates. The business sector, especially small and medium enterprises, is also being encouraged to expand recruitment drives.

China’s military has reopened applications for graduates for officer positions, the first time it is recruiting graduates from non-military universities, according to a document issued jointly by the education ministry and the National Defense Mobilization Department, which said that quotas for graduates within the military would be increased.

The Ministry of Education has also expanded the enrolment of postgraduates and created more jobs in the education and research fields, among others.