CRI听力:Grads Try to Survive Hardest Job Hunting Season

This summer is said to be the toughest job hunting season for new college graduates in history.

Those looking for work say the job market is much tougher than last year.

In Beijing, recent government figures suggest fewer than 30 percent of fresh graduates have managed to get a job so far. That was 10 percent lower than the same period last year.

The situation in the southern economic hub Guangzhou is proving to be better than the capital, with half of new job seekers having secured a position.

Still, it is 6-percent lower than last year and even lower than it was during the global financial crisis.

Employers say they are cutting their recruitment plan.

"We only need 5 trainee managers this year. Usually we hire 15 to 20 each year. Also most graduates don't want to do low-level jobs and they prefer to find a job in Guangzhou."

Education experts say on the one hand, new graduates should adjust their expectations, but more importantly, a systematic higher education reform is needed.

Yan Quanzhi is the principal of the University of Science and Technology Henan.

"The course structure of higher education should match the industrial structure while the level of higher education should match the development of technologies. Restructuring the higher education sector is the responsibility for the government. It is the only way to solve this systematic problem."

Of course the current economic slowdown is blamed for the latest situation.

China's economy grew by 7.8 percent last year, the slowest in years.

Also most of the major economic indicators in the first quarter do not show much of an upward trend.

It is widely believed the loss of one GDP point could cost 1-million jobs.

And at the same time, the Chinese economy is experiencing a major restructuring, with the central government lowering its growth target to 7.5 percent for this year.

Chief economist of Haitong Securities Li Xunlei says the current difficulties in the job market should not change the course of economic restructuring.

"The economic slowdown is inevitable even without the restructuring, and unemployment is inevitable during a slowdown. The positive side of the story is the increase of China's overall population is also slowing down. I think as long as the economy is not too bad, we should not stop the restructuring efforts."

Chinese president Xi Jinping said earlier this month that economic growth was the fundamental solution of boosting the job market.

Though fresh college graduates are facing a tough job market this year, the overall employment situation in China is not bad.

China's registered unemployment rate in the first quarter stands at 4.1 percent, which is the same as last year.

For CRI, I'm Su Yi.