China’s youth face bleak job market as COVID slows economy

BEIJING (AP) — China’s 11 million university graduates are struggling in a bleak job market this summer as repeated shutdowns under China’s zero-COVID lockdowns forced companies to retrench and driven many restaurants and other small employers out of business. When Liu Qian entered the job market, she said she felt as if her future had been smashed and didn’t know if she could piece it together. The 26-year-old graduate sent out more than 100 job applications and saw two openings she had interviewed for eliminated before landing a job. Countless others are still looking. China’s job drought echoes the difficulties of young people worldwide to find work in depressed economies.