Millions of Young Chinese Can’t Find Jobs: Live Off Parents or Scavenge for Scrap to Survive

Starting today, I'm never going to work another day. I'm making this video as proof. I'll never work another day. Even if I have to beg for food, even if I starve to death, I'm not going back to work. My parents spent over 100,000 yuan on my education, and I spent four years in college. I'm the only college graduate in my family. I graduated this June, and I've been looking for work for a long time, but so far nothing has worked out. According to China's Ministry of Education, the number of college graduates in 2026 is expected to reach a record 12.7 million, about 480,000 more than in 2025, including unemployed graduates from previous years and students returning from overseas. The total number of job seekers is expected to double. China's youth unemployment rate rose to 18.9% in August, its highest level in a year. But experts say the official rate does not capture the full scale of the employment crisis faced by young people. Experienced Chinese capital markets professional Xu Zhen said that the Chinese government changed how unemployment is measured. The youth unemployment rate only covers urban residents actively seeking work. People who are unemployed or stuck in low-paying jobs without benefits are still counted as employed. Many young people who have given up looking, depend on their parents, or stay in school for graduate degrees are excluded. Along with hidden unemployment in rural areas, the official rate makes the situation look better than it is. I'm unemployed, unemployed at 26. To put it bluntly, I cost too much to employ, so it's time to replace me. In Xi'an, even people with bachelor's degrees can't make 3,000 yuan a month. I really want to work in food delivery. Last time, I said I had a bachelor's degree, and they rejected me. I tried another location and said I had an associate's degree, but they didn't believe me. Finding a job is really, really hard right now. I graduated with a master's degree in June 2026. The woman says she had sent out around 2,300 resumes this year. Most employers had read them without replying, leaving her extremely anxious. With college graduates struggling to find jobs, more young Chinese people are losing hope for the future. They face a difficult choice. Take a low-paying job, live off their parents as so-called unfinished children, or simply stop working. Unfinished children is a term that has become popular on Chinese social media in recent years. The term is inspired by China's abandoned housing projects where buildings are left unfinished. It describes young people who spent years studying, with their parents invested heavily in their education, only to graduate into unemployment, depend on their parents, or settle for low-wage work. Their lives seemed to have stalled before they could truly begin. On October 5, an article titled More Young People in Shanghai Are Seeing Their Lives Stalled struck a chord with young urban Chinese. It told the story of Xiao Nan, born in 1992, who used to work at ByteDance. She once calculated how much she needed for a down payment and planned to marry and have children before 30. Now she carries a faded canvas bag and orders two cold beers. She laughed, my life has pretty much stalled. I lost my down payment savings in investments, quit my job almost six months ago, and now I grow flowers at home every day. The term unfinished children was already sparking discussion in 2024. After more than a decade of education, many young people graduated straight into unemployment. Some returned to their hometowns to live off their parents as full-time children. Even the dating scene has quietly changed. One social media user said, people used to ask whether a potential partner owned a home. Now they ask how much their parents receive in retirement benefits. China now has 323 million people aged 60 and older, accounting for 23% of its population. With home prices no longer rising, steady monthly retirement income has become especially valuable for young people. Simply having parents who can support themselves is a major relief. And lately, the struggles facing young people have taken another turn. A recent annual spending statement from an unemployed woman in Yunnan sparked widespread debate. She spent just 2,858 yuan in a year, less than 8 yuan a day on average. She lived and ate at her parents' home. Critics said her parents paid for the home, utilities, and meals. Every yuan she saved was a cost shifted onto them. They called it a new form of living off parents. Others disagreed. They said she never asked for money, it was simply one more person eating at the family table. Supporters said truly living off parents means draining their lifetime savings for a down payment, then asking them to help with a mortgage, or getting married and having children while still expecting parents to provide every meal. This unemployed woman spent only 2,858 yuan all year and never asked her family for cash. One vlogger said young people may be choosing this lifestyle temporarily, not because they are lazy or avoiding responsibility. They may have sent out countless resumes without a reply, been told after interviews to wait for a call that never came, been suddenly laid off, or faced rejection at one job after another. This is a new kind of dependence on parents, but it's emotional rather than financial. Many young people born after 2000 face enormous pressure finding work, so they give up trying and choose a low-cost lifestyle with few material wants. They live for the moment and enjoy themselves. Few plan for the future or think about saving money. They may not depend on their parents financially, but their parents have spent half their lives hoping for a better future for them. Now those hopes are gone. That's a huge emotional blow. Parents can't help worrying about what will happen when they're no longer around. Who will take care of their children if they're still struggling? But if they speak up, it sounds like lecturing or pressuring them to marry. Their children just pull away. Being a parent today is really hard. This emotional dependence leaves parents constantly worried, sometimes unable to eat or sleep. Many young people can't keep up with the competition, but they can't really relax either. Some leave big cities to live quietly in the countryside. Others stay in rented rooms, stop working and socializing, and slowly lose touch with the outside world. What has pushed some young people into this situation? A lot of people in Nanjing don't have jobs now. If you don't believe me, go to a park. There are far more people walking around than in previous years. Others are lying around at home, near New Street subway station, on the basement level of Deji Plaza. It's packed even during work hours, on weekdays. Look at the street where I'm filming. There are lots of people here at this hour too. I just want to know, if you're not working, how are you paying your bills? Have you noticed how some young people won't work and just keep eyeing their parents' pensions? They say, my parents aren't using the money anyway, of course I should be able to spend it. You gave birth to me, so you have to support me for life. what's wrong with spending a little? Well, are you over 18? Do you have hands and feet? Your parents did their duty by raising you to adulthood. Their pension is for their medical care and retirement. How can you feel entitled to it? Some young people today have absolutely no shame. A photo of a thin-faced young man once spread widely online. He had been a child prodigy admitted to a mathematics doctoral program at a prestigious Chinese university at 16. When Chinese online media interviewed him years later, he was living off his parents, receiving 10,000 yuan every 2-3 months. He said openly, I could be happy my whole life just eating, doing nothing, and waiting to die. Social media users commented, Living off your parents really is becoming a trend. I survive entirely on my parents' pensions. The problem is, without their help, I'd starve. Another vlogger defended young people who rely on their parents. When married young adults keep relying on their parents, people usually give two explanations. Either the young people aren't trying hard enough, or their parents' pensions are too generous. But the most painful part is what's happening on both sides. Yes, some young people are lazy and have unrealistic expectations. But many work themselves to exhaustion and take home only 5,000 or 6,000 yuan a month. Rent may eat up half of that. Others are overwhelmed by car loans or mortgages. One pay cut or layoff can leave them unable to cover their expenses. Do they really not want independence? Often, they simply can't afford it. Meanwhile, some retirees collect 7,000 or 8,000 yuan, or even 30,000 yuan a month, without working. That can be more than their children earn. So who is really supporting whom? Yet some parents show no understanding. They criticize their children for being incapable or irresponsible while enjoying generous retirement benefits themselves. A harmonious family should recognize how times have changed. Parents should understand how hard life is for young people. And young people should appreciate their parents and remember how hard they worked to earn what they have today. Don't you agree? One vlogger said the entire society has become dependent on older generations. Something has really struck me lately. sometimes you can't blame young people for living off their parents because society as a whole is doing it i think the age when graduates can become financially independent will keep getting pushed back and by financial independence i don't mean buying a car or home on your own i mean earning enough to cover food clothing housing and transportation occasionally go out with friends and enjoy a hobby even that is a real achievement now more than 10 years ago college graduates could usually do that at 22 or 23. Today, it's really difficult right after graduation. A couple of days ago, I saw a school here hiring temporary teachers without permanent positions. I was curious about the pay, so I checked. It was 3,000 yuan a month, including social insurance contributions. After deductions, you take home only a little over 2,000 yuan. In fact, many families are struggling. Their elderly parents have no generous pensions, so young people have no one they can rely on. There are four people in the family who aren't working. One older sister works two jobs, and she still has to do chores when she gets home. Every day is worse than the last. We're too poor. There's nothing we can do. Look, everyone, that's my mom going through the trash again. See? She used to collect cardboard boxes and things like that. She told me competition for recyclables has become much fiercer this year. People wait by the trash cans to collect things. You wouldn't believe it, but even restaurant owners and owners of mahjong and card rooms are doing it. They compete with my mom for cardboard and clothes people throw out when moving. Even people in their 20s and 30s are collecting trash now. She never saw that last year. This year, young people are searching through the same trash cans, sometimes several times a day. What's going on? Why are so many people collecting recyclables this year? A Landlord confronted an unemployed young woman about her overdue rent. 美女,你在家吗? Hey, are you home? She won't answer my calls or reply on WeChat. I'm coming to the door. Oh, you are home. Oh, it's the landlord. Your rent is seven days overdue. It's only a little over 600 yuan plus utilities. Yeah, money's been really tight lately. I lost my job too. Did you quit your job yourself? Yes. Aren't you going to look for another job? I am. I've been looking these past few days. But you still have to pay the rent. I'm really short on money. Could you give me about one more week? Some young people who move to cities for work refuse to go home, even when they can't find a job. A lot of people ask me why I don't go home if I can't find work. What would I go home for? So they can judge me, laugh at me, mock me. Even if I die in my rented room, even if I die out here, I'm not going home. I came here to work. If I can't find a job, I'll just stay in my room playing on my phone and playing games. I don't have to go home. I don't want their judgment, their ridicule, or even their concern. If society gives young people no way forward, their families have to give them somewhere to turn. When children graduate and can't find work, it's painful for their whole family. This is happening more and more often, and it's hard for every family going through it. These difficulties are real. It's not the children's fault. We shouldn't blame them. Society isn't giving them a way to make a living. Official Chinese government figures show little overall change in China's surveyed urban unemployment rate or the unemployment rate for the 16- to 24-year-olds over the past three years. But that doesn't match many people's experiences. Employers are becoming more cautious, graduates are finding it harder to get hired, and people who once held stable jobs are turning to ride-hailing, food delivery, and other work officials call flexible employment. Many young Chinese adults now face fewer job openings and tougher competition, leaving them increasingly frustrated. They are realizing that years of hard work may not give them a better life than their parents had. Some have even had to move back home. Stable jobs are harder to find, pushing millions into gig work with unpredictable incomes. Others struggle under intense workplace pressure. As unemployment grows, traditional milestones such as financial independence, a steady career, marriage, and children seem increasingly out of reach for many Gen Zers. In recent years, some young people have shared stories of their so-called retirement in the countryside after being laid off, quitting their jobs, and never finding work. These self-described retirees are either taking extended breaks or are unemployed. Last year, a group of young people were seen begging on the streets of Dali old town in Yunnan. Each had a sign asking for money or displayed the words on a phone. Asked why they were begging, they said, we can't find jobs and we don't want to live off our parents, so begging is our only option. They said they were not bothering or deceiving anyone and saw nothing wrong with it. China affairs expert Yang Bo said young Chinese people facing hardship are showing more helplessness than anger. Many parents still help their adult children financially, easing some of the immediate pressure. But growing disappointment and disillusionment among young people could pose a greater social risk. If those feelings build into collective resentment, they could fuel unrest that presents a bigger challenge to the Chinese authorities.