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ABSTRACT
This study adopts a nationwide survey data set between 2005 and 2013 (Chinese General Social Survey) to explore the influence of the massification of higher education on the transition of Chinese youth into the labour market. Data analysis reveals two major findings. First, the economic returns to college education of recent cohorts of university graduates (those who have graduated from universities not more than 3 years ago) are lower than the cohorts who graduated in 2005 and 2006. Second, recent cohorts of college graduates are likely to work in the urban informal sector, unlike their senior counterparts. These findings could partially be explained by skills mismatch in the labour market but a comprehensive understanding of graduate unemployment in China could be obtained by bringing the broader political economy perspective into the analysis.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Geolocation information
The policy implication can be applied to HE systems in other Asian countries, although this paper focuses on China.
Notes
1. Calculated from the World Bank database. Accessed on 27 March 2017. http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG.
2. Tabulation on the 2010 Population Census of the People’s Republic of China. Accessed on 27 March 2017. http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/pcsj/rkpc/6rp/indexch.htm.
3. http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2016-11/11/content_27341958.htm, accessed on 28 August 2017.
4. Li et al. (Citation2017b) report that while college premium for the age group 20–60 years old was about 60% in the 2000s in China, college premium for young workers (i.e. 20–24 years old) has declined and was equal to about 0 between 2007 and 2009.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Ka Ho Mok
Prof. Ka Ho Mok is the vice president and concurrently Lam Man Tsan Chair Professor of Comparative Policy at Lingnan University, Hong Kong, and a co-investigator at the Centre for Global Higher Education, UCL.
Jiwei Qian
Dr. Qian Jiwei is a senior research fellow at East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore. His research interests include health economics, political economy and development economics.