First, the supply and demand of talents in the job market is unbalanced.
1. The political system reform has raised the threshold of college students' employment expectations.
The reform of political system has a great influence on the employment of college students. For a long time, China's state-owned enterprises and institutions have many redundant staff and low work efficiency. In recent years, with the transformation of government functions, the separation of government and enterprise, and the separation of political affairs, all units are undergoing transformation and restructuring, reducing staff and increasing efficiency, and the threshold for institutions and institutions is raised due to the shortage of staffing. 1998, according to the principle of "simplification, unification and efficiency", the State Council took the lead in implementing institutional reform in state organs, with the goal of reducing the total number of government cadres by half, and then government organs all over the country successively laid off employees [1]. At the same time, influenced by traditional social concepts, some college students have a serious idea of "official standard", and think that entering the government and other institutions has stable work, high social status and good welfare benefits. On the one hand, the number of jobs in state enterprises and institutions is shrinking, and the number of people entering is strictly controlled. On the other hand, many college graduates are highly competitive and cluster together seriously.
2. Economic growth is not enough to stimulate the employment of college students.
From the perspective of talent demand, generally speaking, economic factors are the decisive factors affecting the employment of college students, and the growth of economic aggregate will lead to the increase of the total number of jobs. The rapid economic growth in China should solve the employment problem of most graduates. However, in recent years, China's economic growth has been pulling down employment, and the social demand for labor has been decreasing, that is, the "acceleration" of job creation has been decreasing year by year. Relevant data show that under the extensive economic development model in the past, every percentage point increase in GDP can drive more than two million people to find jobs. At present, especially since the 1990s, every increase in GDP of 1 percentage point can only stimulate 600,000 to 700,000 jobs, and the scale of employment is reduced by two thirds by economic growth [2]. The main reason for this situation is the continuous improvement of production technology and the continuous adjustment and optimization of economic and industrial structure in China, which has "creatively destroyed" many jobs. On the one hand, some old industries are gradually withdrawing, and the proportion of labor-intensive industries is obviously reduced; On the other hand, new industries are gradually forming, constantly creating new jobs. In addition, for a long time, China has unilaterally pursued economic growth rate, neglected the improvement of employment rate, and mainly adopted the development idea of giving priority to growth, resulting in a relative decline in the demand for labor absorption in economic development. The low-level industrial structure has caused low-level labor demand, and has not created a large number of jobs for college students to choose from [3].
From the perspective of talent supply, China is rich in labor resources, the employment environment of the whole society is not relaxed, and the overall supply of labor market exceeds demand. At present, China is at a new peak of labor force growth, with an annual increase of working-age population of about 1 10,000 ~ 1.2 million. At the same time, with the advancement of industrialization, hidden unemployed people in the planned economy period gradually became explicit unemployed people, and laid-off workers in cities increased. At present, our country is in the period of urbanization, and a large number of rural surplus labor forces are transferred to cities. Judging from the overall trend of the country, the situation that the total supply of labor exceeds demand will exist for a long time. The combination of a large number of new social labor force and the rapid growth of re-employment labor force makes college students face a severe labor market.
In the long run, in the middle and early stage of adjustment, the number of jobs destroyed will be far greater than the number of newly created jobs, which will inevitably lead to unemployment. With the deepening of the strategic adjustment of China's economic structure, the employment problem will gradually improve. After the completion of industrial structure upgrading, the market demand for high-quality labor will greatly increase. Therefore, there is no surplus of college students in China, which is only a temporary transitional state and the price that China must pay to improve its economic efficiency and benefit.
Second, the current employment policy is not in harmony with the traditional employment system.
1. The reform of economic system has led to the reform of employment policy for college students.
After the founding of New China, the employment policy for college students has undergone three major changes: before the end of 1980s, it was mainly formulated according to the needs of the planned economic system, that is, "counterpart employment, all-inclusive distribution"; In the early 1990s, China changed from a planned economy system to a market economy system, and its employment policy changed into a "dual-track system" of "meeting supply and demand and making two-way choices". From the end of the 20th century to the present, with the gradual establishment and improvement of China's socialist market economic system and the popularization of higher education, the employment policy is "two-way choice, self-employment". From this, it can be clear that the employment policy of college students changes with the reform of the national economic system.
2. The barriers in the talent market directly affect the efficiency of college students' employment.
The flow of talents is restricted by the system. Now college students have entered the talent market as human resources. However, in the process of China's transition from a planned economy to a market economy, the talent employment management system has not been straightened out, the systems of labor and personnel, household registration, housing, medical care and insurance are not perfect, and the employment channels for college students are limited, which affects the choice of employment scope for graduates. If you want to enter Beijing and Shanghai, you will be restricted by "indicators", and it is difficult to find a job across regions and industries; When college students go to the grassroots or the central and western regions for employment, their household registration and files will be sent to their work units together. At present, the dual structure of urban and rural areas is implemented in China, and the regional development is extremely unbalanced, with significant differences in wages and benefits in different regions and industries. The urban-rural income ratio has reached 2.64 times in 1999. If college students work in the countryside, it means that there is no good living environment and development prospects. According to statistics, coastal 12 provincial administrative units are pure inflow areas for college graduates except Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, while inland provinces are pure outflow areas. The imbalance of regional development has directly caused the phenomenon of graduates getting together, resulting in regional unemployment of college students.
The talent market system is not perfect. After college graduates enter the market, they do not provide a perfect job market, which is the main factor affecting the employment rate of college students. The talent market is an important part of the market system, the basis of talent resource allocation under the condition of market economy, and the fundamental way for talents to play their role, realize and enhance their value. Timely and accurate collection, collation and release of talent supply and demand information is the premise of college students' timely employment. At present, the employment market for college students is not perfect and standardized, and the employment information system and employment service system for graduates are not perfect, and a unified national employment information system for college students has not yet been formed.
Third, the higher education system does not meet the needs of the market economy.
1. The reform of higher education system is out of line because of its lag.
According to the law of social development, the higher education system will change with the reform of the economic system, which has a certain lag. But at present, the higher education system still has many colors of planned economy. Under the planned economy system, colleges and universities are subordinate to the government or the management department of a certain industry, and set up majors, recruit students and make teaching plans according to the relevant mandatory plans of the government, which leads to fragmentation, redundant construction and low efficiency of higher education. Due to the strong goal of specialty setting, the students trained are too "specialized", with a single knowledge structure, low comprehensive quality and lack of flexibility. Finally, the concept of running a university, the arrangement of levels, the enrollment and the development of the market economy are seriously out of line, and the trained graduates are difficult to adapt to the market demand, resulting in structural unemployment of college students.
2. Major settings in colleges and universities are similar because of perfection.
In terms of specialty setting, universities lack sufficient autonomy, and the government has more restrictions on universities, which is insensitive to the ever-changing talent employment market. After the reform of college students' employment system, the market demand did not become the vane of specialty setting and enrollment in time. The admissions department is only responsible for enrolling students according to the basic conditions such as school facilities and teachers, and pays little attention to the information feedback from the employment department. At present, the export of higher education in China has been marketized, but the entrance of higher education is still planned. This has caused the dislocation between the school's professional setting and the market demand, and the contradiction between professional supply and demand is prominent. For example, liberal arts majors such as law, a few years ago, colleges and universities blindly followed suit and set up majors such as law, which directly led to the employment dilemma of these majors today.
3. The talent training mode in colleges and universities is rigid due to indoctrination.
In the training mode, colleges and universities continue to follow the traditional training mode of planned economy, emphasizing indoctrination rather than practice. "The body is covered with the cloak of popularization, but the thinking still stays in elite education", which leads to the lack of quality for graduates to cope with social challenges. . With the development of the labor market and the intensification of talent competition, employers put forward higher and higher requirements for candidates' practical operation ability and ability to adapt to changes in working environment. However, China's higher education pays more attention to knowledge infusion than ability training. The students trained are neither compound and applied talents urgently needed by society, nor do they have extensive knowledge and practical ability to adapt to society.
4. The level setting of colleges and universities is unbalanced due to convergence.
In terms of level setting, many colleges and universities blindly improve the level of running schools regardless of their own reality, and their own development direction and orientation of running schools are not accurate, resulting in the phenomenon of "secondary schools upgrading to higher vocational colleges, junior colleges upgrading to undergraduate courses, junior colleges upgrading to universities and universities upgrading to key points"; At the same time, many colleges and universities are in line with comprehensive and research universities, which leads to the "convergence" of school-running objectives, the proliferation of "academic" talents, the serious shortage of "technical" talents, and the huge difference between the talent hierarchy and the industrial demand structure, forming an embarrassing situation of "no one has something to do, and some people have nothing to do". In the current talent market, on the one hand, it is difficult for enterprises to hire senior technicians with high salaries, and talents with special skills are urgently needed; On the other hand, a large number of college graduates are trapped in unemployment, and some students have to "go back to technical schools".
Fourth, the quality of college students does not match the market demand.
1. The popularization of higher education is not high enough.
All kinds of data show that the number of college students in China is not too much but insufficient. According to the statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, as of 2003, the number of people with college education or above accounted for only 7.2% of the national labor force aged 15, while that of the United States was 47.5% (in 2000), that of Japan was 30%( 1996), and even that of Brazil, a populous country, reached 23%( 1989). Compared with other countries, our college students are still few. According to the number of college students per 10,000 population, there are 600 in the United States (1.990), 300 in South Korea (1.992) and 48 in China (1.997). According to the comparison of UNESCO with the same caliber, the enrollment rate of higher education from 1999 to 2002 was 7.45% in China, 7 1.69% in South Korea, 29.45% in the Philippines and 3 1.92% in Thailand.
2. There is no necessary connection between the difficulty of college students' employment and the expansion of enrollment.
At present, many people think that the difficulty of college students' employment is a "disaster caused by enrollment expansion". However, we believe that the expansion of enrollment is not the fundamental reason, it just magnifies the original deep-seated contradiction of college students' employment. Relevant data show that from 1998 to 2002, the number of college graduates was 830,000, 848,000, 950,000,1036,000 and1337,000 respectively. 1: 1. 1, 1.999 graduates' supply-demand ratio is less than 1: 1. In 2002, the ratio became 1.26: 1. Since 1999, the demand for college graduates has exceeded demand, and the social demand for college students seems to have stopped. However, it was only in 2002 and 2003 that college students and undergraduates entered the job market after enrollment expansion. This shows that the employment contradiction of graduates was reflected before the expansion of enrollment, and popularization is not the whole reason for the employment problem [5].
3. The speed of popularization is too advanced, which highlights various contradictions.
From 1999, the national college enrollment ratio increased by 47.3%, and in 2000 it increased by 38. 16% over the previous year. In Japan, South Korea and other countries in the west and even Asia, the annual growth rate is generally around 5% ~ 10% in the process of popularization. Colleges and universities are eager to expand their scale, set up some majors with less investment and easy application, or set up some novel majors with immature job market before making clear their accurate position in popular education. Some colleges and universities only pay attention to scale without considering quality, only to extension without considering connotation, and only to enrollment without paying attention to employment. In addition, the state and governments at all levels have limited financial investment in colleges and universities, and school buildings, experimental equipment and teachers are in short supply for a while. The teacher-student ratio in some universities even reaches 1:30, but the quality and level of new teachers can hardly be greatly improved in a short time, and the number of courses offered by students and the number of hours in each course are reduced, which directly affects the teaching quality. These negative effects brought by the expansion of enrollment have caused the unqualified quality of students, which does not meet the market demand and lacks employment competitiveness.
4. The quality of college students is the key factor affecting employment.
The concept of employment does not match the requirements of market competition. In terms of employment concept, college students are deeply influenced by elite education, and still position themselves as "elites" and think that "the emperor's daughter has no worries about marriage". During my study in school, I can't fully grasp what I have learned and improve my comprehensive ability. During the period of employment, there is the idea of "waiting, relying and wanting", and the sense of competition is not strong. They just wait for employment opportunities, and the employment target is often locked in elite units with high salary, good welfare and generous treatment. College students' unrealistic ideas lead to some students' selective unemployment, that is, "no job" and give up unsatisfactory employment opportunities on their own initiative. Looking at other countries that have achieved popular education, the first employment of college students is not ideal. It is also difficult for American college students to find jobs. French graduates like to go to small and medium enterprises. Every year,14 college graduates in Japan can't find jobs, and it is good that 10% graduates in India can find ideal jobs every year. It can be seen that the employment goal in the era of popular education should be re-established according to reality. Some college graduates enter the elite positions of society through competition. At the same time, there must be some college graduates engaged in lower-level jobs.
Employment awareness does not match the requirements of market competition. Influenced by the planned system and exam-oriented education, the purpose of China students' education is very simple-"Primary schools bring junior high schools, junior high schools bring senior high schools, and senior high schools bring senior high schools." Under the elite education of the planned economy system, as long as you are admitted to the university, it means employment. When the market economy system is established and popular education comes, the original education model seems out of place. In the United States, before students enter the university, the school begins to guide them to think about their career ideals and consider what they are most suitable for according to their needs, interests, abilities and social environment. At present, there are few clear career plans for domestic college students, which leads to unclear employment goals. After entering the university, because there is no sense of employment, there is not enough motivation to muddle along, which invisibly reduces their core competitiveness and cannot achieve "job matching". Some college students with clear plans make full use of college time, seize the opportunity to exercise themselves, improve their comprehensive quality and lay a professional capital for themselves.
The employability does not match the market demand. The development trend of modern society's demand for talents is: education society-education society-ability society-ability society. 1999 the national conference on education clearly pointed out that students' innovative spirit and practical ability should be cultivated in the basic education stage of primary and secondary schools, and their entrepreneurial ability should be cultivated in the university stage. However, influenced by the idea of exam-oriented education, college students only pay attention to the improvement of academic performance and the growth of solid knowledge, and "study hard and study hard" at the expense of the cultivation of various abilities. According to a survey, what employers value most in the market at present is the comprehensive quality of college students, such as responsibility, interpersonal skills, teamwork ability and social adaptability. I hope that college students will develop in an all-round way and have high ability to handle affairs. At present, many employers don't want "fresh graduates", which also proves from one side that graduates who have just come out of college do have some lack of ability.
In a word, we think that the "employment difficulty" of college students is a special historical phenomenon under the background of social and economic system reform. Judging from the current situation of the development of higher education in China, the "employment difficulty" of college students is only a structural relative surplus, which requires colleges and universities to establish a scientific education development concept that coordinates scale, quality, structure and benefit, further adapt to the development requirements of the socialist market economy and promote economic and social progress.
refer to
[1] Pu Xingzu. China people and the political system of the Republic of China [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai People's Publishing House, 1999: 36 1-368.
[2] Liu Yongjun. Review on the Inconsistency Theory between Economic Growth and Employment Elasticity [J]. Market and Population Analysis, 2003 (11): 8-15.
Hu Angang, Yang Yongheng, Sheng Xin. Economic Growth Transformation and Employment Promotion [J]. Mathematical Statistics and Management, 2004(6): 1-9.
China Institute of Personnel Science. 2005 China Talent Report [M]. Beijing: People's Publishing House, 2005:236.
Wu Daguang. Research on the Popularization of Education in China [M]. Beijing: Higher Education Press, 2004:24 1-242.
[Editor: Cheng Fangzhe]