When my students graduate from Henan University of Technology, they may have a hard time finding a good job.
For decades, a college degree has been an automatic ticket to upward mobility in China. Not anymore. An economic slowdown, combined with a record number of college graduates, is making job-hunting difficult for new degree holders, according to several recent news stories.
Almost 7 million students will graduate from Chinese universities this year, and the college graduation rate is almost seven times what it was 15 years ago.
Many of my students want to be teachers. At least that’s a growth industry.
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I just read a Reuters story about another growing business in China — wealthy couples hiring American women to serve as surrogate mothers.
Surrogate agencies in the U.S. and China are being sought by upper-class Chinese who want to circumvent the country’s one-child policy, can’t conceive themselves or are seeking U.S. citizenship for their children. According to the story, “U.S. fertility clinics and surrogacy agencies are creating Chinese-language websites and hiring Mandarin speakers.’’
The services don’t come cheap. Chinese agencies generally charge between $120,000 and $200,000, Reuters reported, though the cost can reach $300,00 if the family wants to live in the U.S.
Before I came to China, I was under the impression that the one-child policy, which went into effect in 1979, was strictly enforced. This may have been true at one time, but not anymore. There are so many exceptions to the rule and so many ways to skirt it that millions of Chinese families have more than one child.
Still, the policy has slowed China’s population growth. China now has an estimated 1.3 billion people, while India has 1.2 billion. India is expected to overtake China as the world’s most populous country around 2028.
