Introduction
Employment is not only an economic problem but also a very important social one. It plays a decisive role in the provision of a particular standard of living for the country’s population, in the formation and development of each person’s professional capabilities, the formation, and disclosure of personality. The growth of the world’s population combined with scientific and technological progress leads to an excess of supply in the labor market. People themselves are becoming more demanding in terms of working conditions and wages. As a result, it is more profitable for companies to move their production to low-income countries. The People’s Republic of China is the largest country in terms of population and the third largest country in the world in terms of territory. Nevertheless, one of the most pressing problems for the economy of this country is the high level of unemployment. The causes of unemployment in China are insufficient training of specialists in educational institutions, active urbanization, and irregularity of the private sector of the economy.
Discussion
For a long time, China’s economic growth was achieved by increasing the number of workers. At the same time, productivity remained at a rather low level. One of the reasons was weak incentives to educate people (OECD 36). Moreover, skilled workers were not sufficiently motivated to work more efficiently (OECD 38). Consequently, the country lacked a system and consciousness that supported the knowledge and experience of employees.
The Chinese economy had been slowly developing for a long time, so negative factors gradually became predominant. As a result, the labor force from the agricultural sector began to flow into the city, resulting in jobs being taken by citizens with no relevant experience and knowledge (Cai and Wang 28). Interestingly, official statistics counted the residents of townships and villages working in the city as the rural population. The main reason for the outflow of population to large cities was the automation of agriculture, which led to massive cuts in the villages. The labor force, qualified to work on agricultural land, was unclaimed in the megacities.
The labor market in Chinese cities is divided into public and private. It is characterized by the lack of a unified wage system, rules, and regulations. Previously, work was provided by the government, but the transition to partial market relations required the initiative of citizens, which is not enough. This may be due to the peculiarities of the Chinese mentality, supported by education, which does not imply the development of initiative and leadership qualities. Consequently, there is a shortage of managerial personnel in the field of private enterprise in cities.
The quality of education in China is a controversial issue since the very process of learning and discipline imposes high demands on students, while at the same time, the punitive system in Chinese schools promotes burnout and demotivation. These factors lead to the fact that by the age of twenty, many young Chinese lose the desire to compete for a good position, as their psyche needs a reset after the hard years of study (Wiczer). Another factor in education is the lack of practice orientation, which produces professionals who are not sufficiently trained for their duties. At the same time, the system of retraining and additional education in the country is poorly developed.
Conclusion
Thus, the causes of unemployment in the PRC are the peculiarities of the education system, the effects of urbanization, and the lack of adaptation of society to the private form of the economy. Education in China prepares demotivated specialists, not ready for initiative and competition. Urbanization has caused millions of rural workers to become unemployed after downsizing and moving to big cities. Finally, most of China’s population is not adapted to join the private sector due to insufficient rationing and a lack of leadership skills.
Works Cited
Cai, Fang, and Meiyan Wang. Chinese Research Perspectives on Population and Labor. Leiden, 2017.
OECD. OECD Economic Surveys: China 2019. OECD Publishing, 2019.
Wiczer, David. “Earnings Losses through Unemployment and Unemployment Duration.” Economic Synopses, vol. 2017, no. 13, 2017.