IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v15y2023i21p15540-d1272601.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Is There a Surplus of College Graduates in China? Exploring Strategies for Sustainable Employment of College Graduates

Author

Listed:
  • Beishan Xiang

    (School of Government Administration, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China)

  • Huiying Wang

    (School of Government Administration, University of International Business and Economics, Beijing 100029, China)

  • Huimin Wang

    (Beijing Institute of Economics and Management, Beijing 100102, China)

Abstract

In 2019, China achieved a milestone in higher education with a gross enrollment rate surpassing 50%, signifying the internationally recognized phase of “universalization”. In 2023, the escalating number of college graduates amounted to 11.58 million, an increase of 0.8 million over the last year, reaching a new high in scale. Despite this remarkable progress, the employment rate of college graduates has remained low and stagnant over the past two decades. This paradox highlights the pressing need to address the employment challenges faced by a growing number of college graduates in China. The existing supply structure of college graduates, including education levels, academic disciplines, spatial distribution, and core competencies, is inconsistent with the demand structure of the labor market. This mismatch emphasizes the necessity for both the supply and demand sides to collaborate in resolving the college graduate employment problem. By advancing the industrial structure, optimizing the configuration of higher education, and fostering a culture of innovation, a harmonious integration of the higher education system with economic development, market demands, and long-term planning can be achieved. The strategies proposed in this study offer practical solutions to promote sustainable employment for college graduates in China.

Suggested Citation

  • Beishan Xiang & Huiying Wang & Huimin Wang, 2023. "Is There a Surplus of College Graduates in China? Exploring Strategies for Sustainable Employment of College Graduates," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-19, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:21:p:15540-:d:1272601
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/21/15540/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/21/15540/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Donald R. Davis & Jonathan I. Dingel, 2019. "A Spatial Knowledge Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(1), pages 153-170, January.
    2. Bram P. I. Fleuren & Andries de Grip & Nicole W. H. Jansen & IJmert Kant & Fred R. H. Zijlstra, 2020. "Unshrouding the Sphere from the Clouds: Towards a Comprehensive Conceptual Framework for Sustainable Employability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-28, August.
    3. Rebecca Diamond, 2016. "The Determinants and Welfare Implications of US Workers' Diverging Location Choices by Skill: 1980-2000," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(3), pages 479-524, March.
    4. Rauch James E., 1993. "Productivity Gains from Geographic Concentration of Human Capital: Evidence from the Cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 380-400, November.
    5. Tom Elfring, 1989. "New Evidence On The Expansion Of Service Employment In Advanced Economies," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 35(4), pages 409-440, December.
    6. Wu, Ning & Liu, ZuanKuo, 2021. "Higher education development, technological innovation and industrial structure upgrade," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).
    7. repec:bla:revinw:v:35:y:1989:i:4:p:409-40 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Carlino, Gerald & Kerr, William R., 2015. "Agglomeration and Innovation," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 349-404, Elsevier.
    2. Stephan Heblich & Stephen J Redding & Daniel M Sturm, 2020. "The Making of the Modern Metropolis: Evidence from London," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 2059-2133.
    3. Gabriel M. Ahlfeldt & Stephen J. Redding & Daniel M. Sturm & Nikolaus Wolf, 2015. "The Economics of Density: Evidence From the Berlin Wall," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 83, pages 2127-2189, November.
    4. Dingel, Jonathan I. & Miscio, Antonio & Davis, Donald R., 2021. "Cities, lights, and skills in developing economies," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    5. Duranton, Gilles & Puga, Diego, 2014. "The Growth of Cities," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 5, pages 781-853, Elsevier.
    6. Fabian Eckert & Sharat Ganapati & Conor Walsh, 2020. "Urban-Biased Growth: A Macroeconomic Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 8705, CESifo.
    7. Yuming Fu & Yang Hao, 2015. "An Urban Accounting for Geographic Concentration of Skills and Welfare Inequality," ERSA conference papers ersa15p734, European Regional Science Association.
    8. Arntz, Melanie & Brüll, Eduard & Lipowski, Cäcilia, 2021. "Do preferences for urban amenities really differ by skill?," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-045, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    9. Coen-Pirani, Daniele & Sieg, Holger, 2019. "The impact of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act on the spatial distribution of high productivity households and economic welfare," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 44-71.
    10. Enghin Atalay & Sebastian Sotelo & Daniel Tannenbaum, 2024. "The Geography of Job Tasks," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(4), pages 979-1008.
    11. de Palma, André & Papageorgiou, Yorgos Y. & Thisse, Jacques-François & Ushchev, Philip, 2019. "About the origin of cities," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 1-13.
    12. Kemeny, Thomas & Storper, Michael, 2020. "Superstar cities and left-behind places: disruptive innovation, labor demand, and interregional inequality," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103312, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Andrews, Michael J. & Whalley, Alexander, 2022. "150 years of the geography of innovation," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    14. Kemeny, Tom & Osman, Taner, 2018. "The wider impacts of high-technology employment: Evidence from U.S. cities," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(9), pages 1729-1740.
    15. Winters, John V., 2020. "Problem on the Plains: College Earnings Premiums in Small Metropolitan Areas," Journal of Regional Analysis and Policy, Mid-Continent Regional Science Association, vol. 51(1), December.
    16. Jonathan I. Dingel, 2017. "The Determinants of Quality Specialization," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 84(4), pages 1551-1582.
    17. Edward L. Glaeser & Naomi Hausman, 2019. "The Spatial Mismatch between Innovation and Joblessness," NBER Chapters, in: Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 20, pages 233-299, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Kemeny, Thomas & Osman, Taner, 2017. "The wider impacts of high-technology employment," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 101854, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    19. Edward Glaeser, 2013. "A Review of Enrico Moretti's The New Geography of Jobs," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 51(3), pages 825-837, September.
    20. Henderson, J. Vernon & Thisse, Jacques-François, 2024. "Urban and spatial economics after 50 years," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 125675, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:21:p:15540-:d:1272601. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.