China’s top education authority has warned fresh university graduates of a turbulent employment scenario as coronavirus-related restrictions and lockdowns take a hit on businesses and the economy.

中国教育部警告提醒应届大学毕业生，由于新冠病毒相关的限制和封锁对企业和经济造成打击，就业形势将出现动荡。

Officials from the Ministry of Education said the job market this year would fare worse than in 2020. Ministry officials made the comments during a meeting earlier this month, where they announced plans on boosting the employment rate in mid-May, Sixth Tone’s sister publication, The Paper, reported Tuesday.

教育部官员表示，今年的就业市场将比2020年更糟糕。据Sixth Tone的姊妹刊物The Paper周二报道，教育部官员在本月早些时候的一次会议上发表了上述言论，会上他们宣布了在5月中旬提高就业率的计划。

China’s employment sector has been fiercely competitive amid an increasing number of fresh graduates every year. A record 10.76 million undergraduate and postgraduate students are graduating this year, a year-on-year increase of 1.67 million.

中国的就业市场竞争激烈，每年都有越来越多的应届毕业生。今年将有创纪录的1076万本科生和研究生毕业，同比增加167万。

Wang Luojie, a senior student graduating from a leading university in Shanghai, told Sixth Tone that companies were not hiring as enthusiastically as before. He has decided to extend his undergraduate studies by a year given the employment outlook.

王骆杰是上海一所重点大学的大四毕业生，他告诉Sixth Tone，公司现在不像以前那样热烈地招聘了。考虑到就业前景，他决定延毕业一年。

“It’s an option for me because I hadn’t gained enough credits for graduation anyway,” he said. “Many of my peers sat for exams for graduate studies — it’s a choice made by many to delay job seeking.”

“这是我的一个选择，因为我还没有获得足够的学分毕业，”他说。“我的许多同龄人都参加了研究生考试——这是许多人推迟找工作的选择。”

A teacher in charge of students’ affairs at a university in the city’s Songjiang District said March and April are typically peak months for graduating seniors to secure a job. He said while in-person campus job fairs have been canceled due to the ongoing lockdown, many companies were also cutting the number of new recruits.

松江区一所大学负责学生事务的老师说，3月和4月通常是毕业生找工作的高峰期。他说，虽然现场校园招聘会因持续封锁而被取消，但许多公司也在削减新员工的数量。

“They’ll be encouraged to stay in the city center to make finding employment more convenient,” said the teacher, adding that the university is considering providing students with stipends to partially cover rent.

“我们鼓励毕业生留在市中心，这样可以更方便地找到工作，”这位老师说。他补充说，大学正在考虑为学生提供津贴，以部分支付租金。

The Ministry of Education noted that a range of issues, from a flare-up of COVID-19 along with the reduction of vacancies offered by companies to a structural conflict in the employment sector, have severely affected the labor market this year. The authority said the country will establish a mechanism to support projects to train talents for designated professions and help keep tabs on majors with a job placement rate of less than 50%.

教育部指出，一系列问题，从新冠肺炎的爆发以及公司提供的空缺职位减少到就业领域的结构性冲突，都严重影响了今年的劳动力市场。教育部表示，国家将建立一个机制来支持为指定专业培养人才的项目，并帮助跟踪就业率低于50%的专业。

Meanwhile, some students said they have been lucky enough to receive job offers despite the grim prospects. A student in Shanghai named Xiao Xin said she will soon start working at a state-run enterprise but still has concerns over job security.

与此同时，一些学生表示，尽管前景黯淡，但他们已经足够幸运地获得了工作机会。上海的一位名叫肖欣的学生说，她将很快进入一家国有企业工作，但仍然担心工作的稳定性。

“The pandemic has changed my perceptions of a job,” Xiao told Sixth Tone. “I was fond of exploring new things, but now I feel it’s better to take up a civil service job because stability is the priority.”

“疫情改变了我对工作的看法，”肖告诉Sixth Tone。“我喜欢探索新事物，但现在我觉得最好从事公务员工作，因为稳定是第一位的。”