Economy pushes Chinese grads into unusual jobs

ByABC News
July 13, 2009, 8:38 PM

BEIJING -- Death carries such a strong stigma in China that the number 4 is widely avoided because it sounds like the Chinese word for death. Yet more than 5,000 new college graduates desperately seeking work swamped a recent job fair held by Shanghai's funeral industry.

A record 6.1 million graduates are turning to some unexpected careers that they might have spurned in boom years but that look promising in the slowing economy everything from undertaker to public restroom attendant.

"There are still taboos about this business in China," says Cao Baofu, whose parents opposed his joining the Shanghai Yishan funeral home a decade ago. "So I was shocked we received 400 applications at the fair."

The global economic downturn is to blame, Cao says. "We've never had so many college graduates applying."

This flood of graduates worries China's leaders, who want to maintain stability. Students are trying to enter the workforce as millions of migrant workers are unemployed because of fewer manufacturing jobs. The government is counting on people to buy more goods to help the economy rebound.

Making the situation even more difficult, the new graduates are attempting to start their careers as 1 million graduates from last year are still looking for work. In recent months, the government has asked employers to create jobs and called on students to be less choosy where they work.

"College students, laid-off workers and migrant workers waiting for jobs are my biggest concern," Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told job seekers at an employment center last month, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency.

Wen urged students to choose jobs in rural areas. If they do, after a few years, they're promised entry to graduate school or residence permits to live in big cities.

Chinese officials are on "red alert" over unemployment, says Wang Kan, a lecturer at the China Institute of Industrial Relations in Beijing. "The government fears that unemployed university students and migrant workers protesting about lost jobs could create a real, independent labor movement. The graduates have knowledge, and the migrants have physical power."