Employment Opportunities and Limitations in China

Abstract： In contemporary society， both employment opportunities and limitations exist in China. Government， society， and individual efforts play increasingly important roles in employment opportunities. However， there are also limitations for finding a job in China----the great gap between the city and countryside， educational background， and gender roles.

Key words： employment opportunities； employment limitations； China

I. Introduction

When Chinese children were very young and studied in primary school， most of them wanted to be scientist， anthropologist， and inquisitor and so on when they grew up. Nowadays， the current situation of employment is so harsh in China. A growing number of people are beginning to realize that to find a good job is not an easy thing. In fact， with the development of the society， more and more job seekers are faced with more and more limitations than the old days. But there are also assorted opportunities for jobs in China. In the following essay， it will explore employment opportunities and limitations in China.

II. More opportunities for job seekers in China

The rapid development of economy offers more opportunities for job seekers. Firstly， government plays an increasingly important role in employment opportunities after China joined the World Trade Organization. Xiaosu Ming said： “because more and more foreign- invested enterprises in China now， so they enlarge the chances of getting jobs” （Xiaosu， 2012）. Before China takes part in WTO， there were few people to go to business companies to find a job， because only some industrys factories in China at that time. But now， there are lots of foreign-invested enterprises and joint-stock companies in China， it is no denying that the new enterprises offer numerous jobs for a job hunter. If they pass enterprises interview， probation， in-housing training， and the sign the employment contract， candidates can get jobs. Getting a job from foreign-invested enterprises has become a trend to young people. Because of governments policy， more employment opportunities are offered to job seekers. To some extent， government has helped people to deal with some problems about finding jobs.

Secondly， society and officials also play an important impact in offering more opportunities for hunters. Two years ago， when graduates looked for their jobs online， students always wasted too much time because they needed to find different information according to different websites to make sure which companies needed to employ new employees. Recently， Social Employment Department created a new website named League for Finding Jobs that includes all the links about different companies. After logging in this website， you can find more information you need： companies addresses， mail addresses， phone numbers， fax numbers， and even employers names. Xiaochen Zhu， who is one of my friends， used this website several days ago and she will graduate after next semester. She told me that the new website was really very useful for students； you need not log in or log out time and time again like several years ago because LFFJ includes all the information on what you need. “I send mail one week ago， and yesterday I received companies response. They told me that they needed an interpreter when they had some English documents and meetings. So， I should go to their company to have an interview. I just used one week， and found a job. It was so amazing.” Because of social department give a hand to candidates， job seekers can save a lot of time， and have more choices to choose their jobs.

Furthermore， individual efforts are indispensable to have more employment opportunities， and grades are important to the employers， when you graduate from university. Although grades cannot prove all the things about your capabilities， they are important issues to decide whether you will be employed， especially when millions would kill for one job. If you want to survive in the fierce competition， you should have enough social experiences besides your distinguished grades. Real-life experience represents that you have something to sell. In China， there are few companies that will waste long time to train new workers. More and more employers would like to use candidates who have work experiences because they can create more efficiency in a short time. They need not use so much time to understand company internal circumstances and they can do a new assignment very well even this is the first day they come to the company to work. In China， government society offers kinds of employment opportunities. It is easier for job seekers to find a good job， if you have something to sell.

III. Some limitations on finding a job in China

When it comes to explore employment opportunities， you can find that there are also some limitations in China. Weining Yin said， “We have a harsh circumstance about Chinese employment. In the next five years， government should control the unemployment rate under 5 %.” （Weining， 2012）. The deplorable problem of unemployment has around public concern nationwide. There are three affect on employment limitations--firstly， the great gap between the city and countryside which forms upper class and lower class. It is obvious that there are fewer job opportunities than in the cities， so large qualities of people who come from the countryside go to the cities to find their own jobs. However， plenty of employers look down upon the villagers， thinking they are poor and not knowledgeable， employers will not give their good jobs， or give their part time jobs and most of them are manual working---moving heavy stuff and cleaning buildings. Some villagers cannot bear the discrimination， they come back to their country and continuing their farming.

Secondly， educational background is also a limitation about finding a job. Certificates are important and can open lots of doors. For instance， when authors friend graduated from university four years ago， he wanted to find a job in a developed city， but most of the companies needed a Masters degree. Although he told employers， he did not think that he was worse than others who had their Masters degrees. The employer told him， he felt so sorry because it was a rule； he could not change it because of authors friend. It was clear that he failed. What a cruel society！ It is very common and a pity that you cannot find a good in China because of your low certificates.

The third limitation is gender roles. Job roles are based on social norms. “Most doctors， police officers， and senators are male. While most nurses， secretaries， and early childhood teachers are female.”（McCubbin & Dahl， p.193）. When females apply to a job about education， it is easier to get a job than if they were males， because they are more nurturing and tender than males. If a man and woman apply to a job as kindergarten teacher， employers will consider woman first. Nonetheless， if a woman and a man apply to a job in business， man has more opportunities than woman， because people always think men are better at mathematics than women. Most of the time， woman have more discrimination than man in China. For example， a woman and a man have the same educational background and similar work experience， during the interview， except the same question like professional knowledge， employers will add other questions to ask woman： “Do you get married？ Do you have any children？” If woman said that she had married and had babies， then she will have a chance to compete with the man； if woman does not get married， or get married but doesn't have a baby， she will lose a chance to get a job. Because employers think that if a woman fall in love and get married， it will influence on her work and make her less efficient. If a woman is pregnant she will ask for a leave to take care of her babies. To employers， they don't want to see young mother stay at home to feed babies but they can get salary from the company. Every employer hopes that all of the employees can use their limited time to create maximum economic benefits for company.

V. Conclusion

To conclude， it is obvious that both employment opportunities and limitation exist in China. Chinese government and society should offer reliable sources of information about jobs， and create a large amount of job opportunities for young people. At the same time， young people should study harder and harder to expand their scope of knowledge to enhance their comprehensive quality， and make contributions to the society.

References

[1] Xiaosu， M. （2012）. The effect of WTO on Chinese college students employment， from http：//wenku.baidu.com/view/a6d790a4f524ccbff12184d7.html

[2] Weining，Y.（2012）. The government pays more attention on college students employment. Retrieved August28， 2012， from http：//www.cnr.cn/newscenter/bzjh/zbzd/201208/t20120828_510687632.shtml

[3] Mccubbin， H and Dahl， B. （2005） Sex Roles. New directions （2nd ed.）. Cambridge University Press.

作者簡介

王戈弋（1987—）女，山東菏澤人。 山東省聊城大學外國語學院英語語言文學2011級碩士研究生，研究方向：翻譯理論與實踐。