Keywords: university; Graduates; Employment; Supply and demand channel
First of all, the questions raised
Generally speaking, the degree of development of a country is positively related to the proportion of its population receiving higher education. At present, the gross enrollment rate of higher education in some developed countries in the world has exceeded 50%, such as Canada, Finland, South Korea and other countries. The gross enrollment rate of higher education in the United States has exceeded 80%, while that of China in 2006 was only 22%. Obviously, China still needs to vigorously develop higher education and train more highly educated and high-quality workers. However, in recent years, with the rapid growth of China's national economy, on the one hand, the country urgently needs college students, on the other hand, the employment rate of college students is declining, and the employment difficulty of college graduates has increasingly become the focus of social attention. This shows that college students, as the main force of national construction in the future, are wasting valuable human resources in this country.
According to the current employment situation, the causes and essence of the problem are analyzed. We believe that solving college students' employment is the rational allocation of human resources, which is related to the development and promotion of workers. It relates to the survival and sustainable development of enterprises; It is an effective way to enhance national competitiveness, which is related to the future of the country.
Second, the basic situation of the job market
Since the reform and opening up, China's economy and society have undergone earth-shaking changes, and the employment situation has also changed. Every year, nearly10 million rural surplus labor force is transferred to urban and non-agricultural areas in China. 2/kloc-0. In the first 20 years of the century, the population of China 1.6 years old increased by 5.5 million annually, and the total working-age population will reach 940 million by 2020. During the Tenth Five-Year Plan period (200 1 ~ 2005), the working-age population grew the fastest, with an average annual growth of13.6 million. This means that by 2020, China will add about 1 100 million young people who need employment. At the same time, due to the small proportion of labor-intensive tertiary industry with high employment elasticity coefficient in China's industrial structure, the employment elasticity coefficient of the overall economy is low, so the post increase brought by economic growth is extremely limited. For a long time to come, the reality that labor supply is far greater than demand is difficult to change quickly in the short term. Therefore, in the next two or three decades, the employment problem will always be a big problem, including the employment of college students.
Third, the basic reasons for the employment difficulties of college graduates
From the economic point of view, college students are the product of human resources production and reproduction, while college students' employment is the process of products entering consumption. Under the condition of commodity economy, whether products can enter the consumption process must meet two conditions. First, users of human resources must have demand for products; Second, the supplier of human resources must provide the utility to meet the needs of human resources users, that is, effective supply. These two conditions are realized through the two-way choice of employers and college students in the human resources market. In the process of two-way choice, if the needs of both sides cannot be coordinated, the employment of college students cannot be realized.
1, supply
As an aspect of the supply of human resources, college students are basically in balance with the market demand for such human resources, which is an objective requirement for achieving full employment of college students. However, in reality, the supply of college students in China is out of line with the requirements of employers in terms of quantity, quality and structure. This contradiction between supply and demand is the direct cause of the imbalance between supply and demand in the employment market for college students.
(1) From the perspective of total contradiction. Since the reform and opening up, economic development and industrial restructuring have caused changes in the social labor force, and four labor forces have flocked to China's labor market. First of all, due to the expansion of university enrollment, the number of college graduates has soared. At the same time, the demand remained relatively stable or slightly increased, and the increment of graduates was significantly higher than the social demand, making it more difficult for graduates to find jobs than ever before. The number of graduates in employment continues to rise, and the contradiction between the rapid growth of graduates and the slow growth of jobs is prominent.
(2) From the perspective of structural contradictions. Such as economic structure (including industrial structure, product structure, regional structure, etc. ) has changed, and the knowledge, skills, concepts and geographical distribution of the existing college students' labor force do not adapt to this change and do not match the market demand, resulting in the dislocation of labor supply and demand, which makes job vacancies and unemployment coexist. This is the most remarkable feature of structural unemployment.
Unemployment in regional structure. From a regional perspective, college students prefer the eastern coastal areas and economically developed areas such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Instead of going to remote provinces and grassroots units in the west. As a result, there has been a phenomenon of high consumption of talents in some big cities. At the same time, a large number of small and medium-sized cities and counties, especially the western region, are facing a serious shortage of talents, especially highly educated talents. Relevant data show that in recent years, 80.8% of college graduates are employed in large and medium-sized cities, while only 19.2% are employed in counties, towns and rural areas. In China, regional structural unemployment is more prominent.
Conceptual structural unemployment, the current unemployment of college students is also largely related to the concept of employment. At present, the salary expectation of recent college graduates in China is generally too high. In addition, relevant surveys also show that college graduates generally want to work in relatively stable state organs, various institutions and foreign-funded enterprises and high-tech enterprises with relatively good income, and these work units and industries are just some units with the fiercest market competition and the least recruitment. This further aggravates the employment difficulty of college graduates. Obviously, there is a big gap between their requirements for wages, working environment and welfare conditions and the actual situation in the labor market.
(3) In terms of quality. Some college students are unemployed not because of the lack of employment opportunities, but because their quality structure and operational skills do not meet the market demand, in other words, the quality of labor they provide is unqualified, which leads to the inability to exchange products. On the one hand, from the perspective of college students themselves, with the increasing proportion of only children in the working-age population, the quality advantages and disadvantages formed before this age will be more and more reflected in the labor force. Although their IQ is slightly higher, they have obvious weaknesses in quality, personality, education and daily performance. On the other hand, from the perspective of educational system and structure, unreasonable curriculum structure, crude experimental equipment and weak practice links directly affect the knowledge structure, comprehensive quality and adaptability to the market of college graduates, and reduce the quality of college students' labor force. American economist R. Solow's research on the United States shows that after World War II, the number of American labor force has not increased much, but its developed education has improved the quality of the labor force, thus making the labor force make an important contribution to economic growth. In China, on the contrary, the low quality of labor reduces the contribution of labor to economic growth and further aggravates the employment problem of college students.
Step 2 need noodles
The demand for college graduates in the labor market depends on the size, speed, industrial structure and economic development strategy of the economy. If the market demand can increase with the supply, the unemployment rate will not fall.
(1) Economic growth has little absorption capacity for college graduates. Among the primary, secondary and tertiary industries, the tertiary industry is the main source of employment. In western developed countries, the labor force of the tertiary industry has accounted for 60 ~ 70% of the total labor force. In developed countries, the proportion of the tertiary industry in the gross national product is generally 2/3, and that in the United States is over 75%. In China, from 2002 to 2006, the proportion of tertiary industry in GDP dropped from 4 1.7% to 39.5%. Economic growth has little ability to absorb college graduates.
(2) The enthusiasm of private enterprises to attract college students is not high. First, some private entrepreneurs think that fresh graduates have no technical expertise and work experience, so they are more willing to hire laid-off workers with work experience to reduce training costs; Second, limited by employment indicators, college students' employment costs are high, so their actual demand for college students is less than the optimal demand.
(3) The demand of college students in economically underdeveloped areas is insufficient. Poor areas, central and western regions, small and medium-sized towns and rural areas are unable to absorb college students because of economic backwardness and tight funds. However, due to the regional economic gap, college students are unwilling to work in these areas, which leads to the slow economic development in these areas and forms a vicious circle.
(4) The number of hidden employees has increased. With the further development of private universities and private enterprises, a group of capable and experienced intellectuals (such as teachers, engineers, accountants, lawyers, etc. ) More and more people quit their jobs to take part-time jobs. This kind of hidden employment, with its characteristics of "low cost and high income", crowded out the employment posts of college students and aggravated their unemployment.
(5) There are some problems in China's talent distribution system, which restrict the employment of college students. China's traditional college student dispatch system, rigid cadre status and related policies seem to protect students' interests, but actually hinder students' employment, increase students' employment expectations, and increase the cost for enterprises to absorb employed college students. This relatively backward personnel distribution system has a serious collision with the dynamic market employment mechanism. The private enterprises and tertiary industry analyzed above are not strong enough to absorb college students' employment, which is probably caused by it.
Four, the basic ways to promote the employment of college graduates
1, the fundamental way is to vigorously develop productive forces, accelerate the development of the tertiary industry, and increase social demand. Provide more employment opportunities.
The main reason why it is difficult for college students to find jobs is that the growth of jobs lags far behind the growth of the number of college graduates. Since 1999, the enrollment scale of colleges and universities in China has been expanding continuously, and the number of graduates has increased nearly four times in the six years since 0 1. At the same time, demand remained relatively stable or increased slightly. The growth of graduates is obviously higher than the growth of social demand, which leads to a continuous decline in the employment rate of college students and an increase in employment pressure. It can be seen that the most effective way is to fundamentally solve the employment problem, vigorously develop the productive forces, especially accelerate the development of the tertiary industry, create new jobs according to the needs of the development of productive forces, and expand the demand for labor.
2. Narrow the regional gap and expand the employment space.
The labor force is profit-seeking. Due to the unbalanced economic development between urban and rural areas and between the east and the west, and the large income gap, China college students gather in large and medium-sized cities in the east, resulting in regional structural unemployment with relatively surplus talents. Therefore, we should actively take measures to promote the economic development of rural and western regions. Improve the attraction of rural and western regions to college students and reduce the opportunity cost of college students' employment choice. In this way, in the case of limited jobs in the main labor market, college students are more willing to work in the secondary labor market than to be unemployed in the main labor market because of the narrowing income gap. In addition, the expansion of employment space creates more jobs for college students, which will also reduce the over-education rate of college students.
3. Build a scientific education system, constantly improve the specialty setting, export qualified talents and provide effective supply.
The problem of college students' employment difficulties also exposes many deep-seated problems in higher education. The discipline construction in colleges and universities does not really conform to the market operation law and is not well connected with the market. The ability to predict the development and change trend of the employment market and the contingency mechanism are weak, which directly or indirectly affects the employment of college students.
Reforming the talent training mode in colleges and universities, strengthening the contact with the market and building an education system that adapts to the development of the times and economic construction are realistic topics for higher education.
4. Strengthen college students' vocational guidance, and enhance their professional awareness and market competitiveness.
(1) Strengthen the education of values and outlook on life. Contemporary college students pay more attention to the personal value of the profession and seldom consider the social value of the profession in their career pursuit. Thinking more about themselves and less about others will easily lead to the lack of professionalism, insufficient loyalty to enterprises, lack of team spirit and poor communication skills of college graduates in their future career, which are often highly valued by employers. Therefore, in college education, we should strengthen the education of students' values and outlook on life, enhance college students' professional awareness, and lay a good foundation for their future career.
(2) Strengthen the mental health education of college students. The employment pressure of the older generation of college students is too great. Faced with the severe employment situation, it is normal that they have suffered setbacks and hardships. If they want to face it correctly, they must keep a healthy attitude and understand the problem scientifically in order to solve it correctly. Therefore, strengthening college students' mental health education in higher education is a necessary link for college students to devote themselves to their careers hopefully in the future.
(3) Strengthen students' professional education and improve their professional quality. Among contemporary college students, many students don't understand the potential and prospect of their major and their professional knowledge is not in place, which leads to the lack of firmness, depth and breadth of their professional knowledge and obstacles to their future work. Therefore, college students' employment guidance should be combined with professional education, and professional education activities such as professional development status and professional prospect analysis should be carried out in combination with professional characteristics to improve the competitiveness of college graduates.
5. Establish a fair, just and open labor market mechanism.
Due to the imperfection of the social employment system, there is still a phenomenon that the role of social capital is greater than that of human capital in the process of college students' employment, which not only encourages bad social atmosphere and breeds corruption, but also is not conducive to the improvement of college students' quality. Therefore, establishing a fair, just and open labor market mechanism, strengthening supervision, perfecting institutions and perfecting the labor market system are long-term solutions to the employment difficulties of college students.
6. Establish a socialized, market-oriented and information-based employment system.
At present, the employment market of college students is not perfect, there are few institutions that directly provide long-term services for college students' job hunting, and the flow channels of college graduates are not smooth, which restricts the optimal allocation of college graduates. Therefore, building a socialized, market-oriented and information-based employment system is a powerful guarantee to solve the employment problem of college students.
(1) Establish a socialized service mechanism focusing on public welfare, such as establishing a graduate information sharing network, improving the information employment system, and improving socialized employment intermediary organizations.
(2) Establish a policy guarantee mechanism. Reform the employment mechanism, introduce rules and regulations to promote college students' employment, and protect their legitimate rights and interests. Such as household registration management system, personnel file management, professional title evaluation and employment, old-age insurance, medical insurance and other social security, in order to solve the worries of college graduates and encourage them to seek employment opportunities in the non-public economy.
Verb (abbreviation of verb) conclusion
College graduates are not a burden to society, but a valuable asset to society. The failure of college graduates to achieve employment is not only a huge waste of human resources and wealth, but also affects the happiness and stability of millions of families, which will have a greater negative impact on society and the labor market. The employment of college graduates is not only an economic issue, but also a political issue, which is directly related to China's socialist modernization process and social prosperity and stability. Therefore, the employment problem of college graduates needs to be highly valued and effectively solved. The solution of this problem depends on the joint efforts of the state, society, family and every college student himself.