Youth Unemployment in China

In: International social science journal: ISSJ, Band 40, S. 285-296

Abstract

The development of a youth unemployment problem in the People's Republic of China is traced through four separate stages between 1949 & 1985, with focus on the role of inappropriate government policies initiated during the Cultural Revolution & their consequences for middle-school graduates. Changes in the career attitudes & plans of the young in the 1980s are identified, & their attempts to take the initiative & form voluntary cooperatives based on the principle of self-employment are chronicled. Improvements brought about by recent changes in the employment structure of the industrial & tertiary sectors are discussed, & the role of the labor-service company in providing vocational training & job placement is described. Prospects for a continued reduction in youth unemployment during the latter part of the 1980s are examined. 5 Tables. K. Hyatt