Download Analysis on the Sustainable Employability of College Graduates

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Analysis on the Sustainable Employability of College Graduates
ZHANG Jinying1, 2, SHI Meixia1
1. School of Economics and Management, Beijing Jiaotong University, China, 100044
2. School of Economics, Shandong University of Finance, China, 250014
[email protected]
Abstract: The unemployment issue of college graduates becomes more and more serious year by year
in China. This paper analyzes how to cultivate the sustainable employability of college graduates. The
sustainable employability of college graduates refers not only to the employability of individual college
graduate, but also to the employability of the group of college graduates. Chinese college graduates lack
sustainable employability because the college graduate' s supply cannot be promptly adjusted according
to market signals and the absence of college education practice. There are still some uncertainties in the
post-financial-crisis era, which will hinder the improvement of the sustainable employability of college
graduates. The government, universities and college graduates themselves should collaborate to
establish the mechanism of sustainable employability cultivation.
Keywords: College Graduates, Sustainable Employability, College Education, Post-Financial-Crisis Era
1 Introduction
The influence of college enrollment on the employment of college graduates has become apparent
gradually since 2002. The employment rate of college graduates decreases and the unemployment issue
becomes serious year by year, which has aroused extensive attention. Researches focus mainly on the
impact of college education, the causes for college graduates' unemployment and strategies for improve
the employment rate. There is also some researches focus on the employability of college graduates.
There is no unified definition of employability at home and abroad. The International Labor
Organization defined the employability as an individual' s ability to obtain and maintain a salaried job
and make progress and respond to changes in working life. A consistent view of employability is the
application of knowledge and skills of the overall capacity in the work situation, and it is not only the
basic requirements for work participation, but also the foundation for future education and life. [1]
Domestic consensus on the employability of a college graduates is the comprehensive ability of finding
and keeping a job. [2]
Considering that more and more college graduates cannot posit themselves well in the labor market, this
paper proposes to cultivate the sustainable employability of college graduates. The sustainable
employability of college graduates has double aspects. The first aspect refers that the individual college
graduate's employability is sustainable. College graduates can ( ) find a suitable job when they
graduate ( ) apply their expertise to work smoothly and improve their own work competence and
qualifications
switch to a second career successfully when necessary and sublimate their own
employability by the job-hopping. The second aspect refers that the employability of the group of
college graduates has sustainability. college graduate's unemployment issue is no longer ( ) a difficulty
involving the entire group; ( ) a continuing phenomenon cried every year.
This paper has four additional sections. In section 2 we analyze the reasons why Chinese college
graduates are lack of sustainable employability. Section 3 presents the difficulties to improve the
sustainable employability of college graduates in the post-financial-crisis era. Section 4 concludes and
makes some suggestions to improve the sustainable employability of college graduates
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2 The Reasons Why Chinese College Graduates Lack Sustainable Employability
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2.1 The supply elasticity of college graduates is relatively small
The government has followed the policy of unified job assignment for all college graduates during the
planned economy. Unemployment do not trouble college graduates at that time. China began to reform
the college graduates employment system since 1989. China established the system that calls for the
college graduate to find a job on his own under the conditions of a market economy in 1998. However,
the supply of college graduates is not well to make adjustments according to market signals. It seems to
the people that college education means a bright future. Academic degree is necessary for jobs with
good working environment, high social prestige and good job prospects. To have college education is
the best way for children of farmers to get city residents and completely shake off the identity of farmers.
Considering the advantages of college education, it is not difficult to understand that although it is
difficult for college graduates to be employed, numerous students are struggle for the college Entrance
Examination. So the supply of college graduates is not sensitive to the changes in the wage rate, and the
supply elasticity of college graduates is less flexibility. As a result, the number of college enrollment and
graduates increased each year, and the contradiction increased between college graduates supply and
demand. Moreover, the college entrance examination didn't play a good role of the initial screening for
the supply of college graduates, because some ineligible students have passed the examination. They
lack the basic interest of college study and cannot guarantee the quality of college education. This group
of students constitutes the main group of unemployed college graduates.
2.2 Lack of college education practice
College graduates lack work experience is an important reason for poor sustainable employability. It is
reported that more than 80% of employers in job fairs require above two years relevant work experience.
Experience discrimination is a common phenomenon in the job search of college graduates. College
graduates lack work experience mainly due to the following reasons.
2.2.1 Undergraduates prefer leisure to income
Work-Leisure decision model can work [3] for analysis. Suppose time (24 hours) is divided into leisure
time (time without pay) and working time (paid time) and individual must choose between leisure and
work. As shown in figure 1, the horizontal axis indicates leisure time and the vertical axis indicates daily
income that paid for work time. The indifference curve shows work and leisure combinations that yield
the same amount of total utility. The main task of undergraduates is to study. Most of their time is used
for education (leisure) rather than work (income). This means that undergraduates prefer leisure to
income, as a result, the substitution rate of leisure for income (the absolute value of the slope of
indifference curve) is larger and the indifference curve is relatively steep. If undergraduates take part
time jobs, they usually have relatively lower wage rate because they do not have work experience and
job requirements of the general skills. Thus the budget constraint line MN is flat. In addition,
undergraduates generally take family as economic prop. Undergraduates can obtain income even if they
don't work. We can use HN to show this non-labor income and make a bending budget constraint line
HNM. According to the principle of utility maximization, the optimal work-leisure combination is
where the given budget constraint line is tangent to the highest indifference curve. The budget line HNM
is tangent to the farthest I2 on point N where we get a corner solution (see figure 1). This means that
undergraduates take 24 hours a day for leisure to obtain utility maximization. Thus undergraduates
become non-labor participants. College graduates is inevitability lack of work experience. In the survey
that encompassed one thousand college graduates from five colleges and universities in Anhui Province,
68.09 percent of college graduates consider the most serious problem in the job search is the lack of
work experience [4].
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Income/day
I
1
I
2
I
3
M
N
0
24 Leisure Hr
Figure 1 Work-leisure Decision Model of Undergraduates
2.2.2 College education does not pay importance to practice
From the aspect of training objectives, most colleges and universities only emphasize the basic
knowledge and skills training and do not emphasize the accumulation of practical experience. The social
practice and graduation internship become a mere formality without explicit instructions and strictly
check. From the aspect of teaching content, the curriculum is very much behind the times. Many college
or university teachers cannot update teaching materials and instruction content in time. Therefore,
students cannot learn enough practical knowledge. From the aspect of the link between college and
society, colleges have little link with the society and have not erected social platform for students to
practice and work. Thus, college graduates are inevitably lack practical ability and skill of social
communication. [5]
3 The Current Barriers to Improve the Sustainable Employability of College
Graduates
At present, the global economy has entered the era of post-financial-crisis. The employment situation
seems to warming considering a wide range of Labor Shortage after the Spring Festival in 2010.
However, there is still much uncertainty in the post-financial-crisis era and the influence of financial
crisis on employment has not completely been cut off. The employment situation of college graduates is
still not optimistic. There are many barriers to improve the sustainable employability of college
graduates.
3.1 The annual unemployment rate may increase influenced by the uncertainties of economic
development
China's production has not yet achieved a full recovery, and the main industry profits have not yet
recovered to the level before the international financial crisis, such as profit levels of oil exploration,
steel, electronics and other industries still decline in January and February in 2010 compared to the same
period in 2008, and the profits of power industry decreased greatly compared to the same period in 2007
[6].
The international market economy is still volatile in the post-financial-crisis era. The short-term
economic recovery process of most countries is very slow, which makes a great impact on Chinese
export. Instability at home and abroad have limited the growth of production and the derived demand for
labor. As a result, the unemployment rate could still rise. Such a relatively tight labor market will
inevitably increase the difficulty of college graduates' employment.
3.2 Economic risk increases employment uncertainty
The government faces a hard task to avoid a crisis into a new round of inflation in the
post-financial-crisis era. At present, due to economic recovery remains fragile, most countries will not
dare to raise interest rates, thus the highly liquid currency cannot drop out of circulation, resulting in
inflationary pressures. The fluctuation resulted from the short-term rebound and long-term depreciation
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of U.S. dollar will cause uncertainty to the global economic development. Some countries have
politicized the RMB exchange rate issue or engaged in trade protectionism against China under the
guise of the exchange rate issue recently, which have put Chinese economy into a certain degree of risk.
These risks will increase the instability of the economy and affect the production, export and
employment increase, thereby stunt job growth. It is unfavorable to college graduates who are searching
jobs.
3.3 The structural adjustment led to frictional unemployment
After the financial crisis, an important characteristic of the post-financial-crisis era is the phenomenon
of annexation and bankruptcy and the optimization, reorganization and structural readjustment of
enterprises, accompanied by reduction of surplus staff and jobs. This not only has a direct impact on
college graduates who have not found jobs, but also may lead employed college graduates to
unemployment. Even if some companies began recruiting troops, the requirements for job seekers are
relatively high while the wage rate is relatively low, which put the inexperienced college graduates at a
serious disadvantage.
3.4 The number of college graduates is very large in 2010
The number of new college graduates in 2010 is up to 6.31 million. From the previous term of
employment rate, about 10% 2009 college graduates have no job. Taking into account the unemployed
college graduates and the job-hopping phenomenon, far more than 6.31 million college graduates are
seeking jobs in 2010. This makes it more difficult to increase employment rate of college graduates.
Under the strong employment pressure, the 2010 college graduates began to seek job more earlier and
more actively than the previous graduates, taking up more school time and practice time, thereby
reducing their employability.
4 Conclusion and Policy Recommendations
The sustainable employability of college graduates refers not only to the employability of individual
college graduate, but also to the employability of the group of college graduates. The key issue revealed
in this study is that Chinese college graduates lack sustainable employability because the college
graduate's supply cannot be promptly adjusted according to market signals and the absence of college
education practice. There are still some uncertainties in the post-financial-crisis era, which will increase
the disequilibria of supply of and demand for college graduates and hinder the improvement of the
sustainable employability of college graduates.
The employment of College graduates is not only affected by international economic situation, but also
by individual qualities, socio-economic structural adjustment and institutional change. There are both
quantity contradiction and structural contradiction in the supply of and demand for college graduates.
We should take effective measures to enhance the sustainable employability of college graduates
according to the cause and the current economic situation. The general hiring rule of enterprises follows
the principle of profits maximization. The size of the staff is determined by business plan. Enterprises do
not need to take responsibility for the employment issue of college graduates. It should rely on the
government, colleges and college students themselves to establish a cultivation mechanism for improve
the sustainable employability of college graduates.
4.1 Government should stress practicability and real effects
Crux of the college graduates' employment problem is the supply-demand gap. The Government must
lay equal stress on supply, demand and the connection between supply and demand. On the supply side,
the government should: ( ) standardize the enrollment ,teaching and training of colleges and guide
universities to meet market demand; ( ) deepen the reform of the labor personnel system and the
household registration system to encourage college graduates go to small and medium private
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enterprises and backward areas. On the demand side, the government should: ( ) establish and improve
employment laws and regulations to prohibit any form of labor discrimination and increase fair
employment opportunities for college graduates; ( ) carry forward the entrepreneurial spirit in the
whole society to encourage the creation of new jobs and employment opportunities; ( ) avoid sudden
rupture of industrial chain in the process of industrial restructuring and upgrading to subtract the adverse
impact on the labor market. On the side of the connection between supply and demand, the Government
should lead to set up special service agencies to provide recruitment information and career counseling
for college graduates to increase the opportunity to obtain jobs. In addition, the Government should
establish a sound employment security system. There are three focuses at present. First, the basic living
security of the registered unemployed college graduates. Second, establish and improve the "Go Back"
project to provide retraining for unemployed college graduates. Third, improve social security for
college graduates who have start their own businesses.
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4.2 Colleges should improve the quality of education
Major universities must continue to improve teaching quality and maintain the brand. Non-major
universities pursue a comprehensive upgrade of teaching quality and form their own comparative
advantage. All colleges should focus on improving students' practical ability and professional skills. We
should introduce competition mechanism and rank colleges according to employment. Colleges should
focus on undergraduate cultivation rather than research. To raise the standard of teaching is the most
important task of college teachers, while research work should mainly bear by research institutes.
Colleges should not evaluate teachers chiefly by the workload of papers and subjects. Administrative
department should not evaluate and rate colleges chiefly by scientific research.
4.3 College students should strive to improve their own sustainable employability
Before the high school graduates apply for a school or a specialty, they should evaluate their self
objectively. Correct choice according to interest rather than popular specialty is the basic premise to
better grades and the necessary condition for improving college education return. For improving their
sustainable employability, college students should establish positive attitudes in college studies,
correctly understand the current employment situation and formulate a reasonable plan of study and
practice. College graduates should change their concept of employment, give up the "elite" culture,
recognize their own advantages, fix on reasonable reservation wage and find a suitable position.
Competent college graduates can start their own business or crave out with schoolmates. It is not only a
good way of solving social problems, but also a good way of self-realization. Considering the very low
success rate in previous years, college graduates start business should evaluate their own strength and
practical conditions objectively and have a fully understand of the business risk existing in the process
so as to avoid business failure and more severe economic losses.
References
[1]. Liu Xiaoping, Deng Jingsong. An Empirical Study on College graduates employability. Modern
University Education, 2009, (5) :85-90 (in Chinese)
[2]. Li Yan. Analysis on the causes of insufficient employability of college graduates. Heilongjiang
Annals, 2009, (4) :137-138 (in Chinese)
[3]. Campbell R. McConnell, Stanley L. Brue, David A. Macpherson. Contemporary Labor
Economics.(6nd ed) New York: McGraw Hill Education, 2002.31-33
[4]. Business demand for talent in the 21st century. China Education Online, http:www.eol.cn.
2006-3-17 (in Chinese)
[5]. Zhang Jinying. The impact of experience discrimination on the employment of college graduates.
China Economist,2008,(1):155-156 (in Chinese)
[6]. How to look at the substantial growth of industrial profits in January and February.
http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjfx/jdfx/t20100326_402630023.htm . 2010-3-31 (in Chinese)
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