BECE. Newsletter 

Vol.7, No.1, 2021 931 

 

 

 

 

An Empirical Research on the Employment of Chi-

nese University and College New Graduates under the 

Impact of COVID-19 

By Li, T., Sun, X., Wu, Z., & Shan, N. 

Correspondence to: Li, T., Doctoral Candidate, China Institute of Rural Educa-

tion Development, Northeast Normal University, China. Email: 

lit456@nenu.edu.cn 

NDER the impact of the pandemic, the employment status of recent 

graduates is unprecedentedly difficult. Recently, a study published in 

Journal of East China Normal University (Educational Sciences) investigat-

ed the employment situation of college graduates in China under the pan-

demic. Using the method of random sampling, the research group distributed 

electronic questionnaires to the fresh graduates, employers, and universities 

in 34 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China, from 

April to June 2020. As a result, 13,738 valid samples of students, 419 sam-

ples of employers, and 55 samples of colleges and universities were collected. 

According to the data analysis, the employment situation of the recent gradu-

ates shows: 

 Half of the after-tax salary centralizes among 3,001 to 5,000 CNY, 

also the satisfaction and stability of attendance were relatively 

high. 

 The difficulty for unemployed graduates increases. The pandemic 

did not significantly change the graduates’ career expectations, 

while the mainstream is entering the enterprises, and the desire to 

take part in the civil servant examination is strong, what’s more, 

the workplace and salary amount attract the most attention. 

Meanwhile, the expected career types do not adapt to the jobs 

available, and salary expectation is generally high. 

 Regarding the evaluation of employment guidance services in 

universities, the feedback was generally positive. However, diffi-

culties such as lack of full-time teachers, and insufficient profes-

sional knowledge still exist. 

Based on the analysis above, the following research took the factors 

of physiology, family, organization, and individual as independent variables, 

and set the employment condition as dependent variables, and finally using the 

U 



 

Vol.7, No.1, 2021 932 

logistic regression to further explore the core factors affecting employment. 

The results are as follows: 

 Gender difference shows a strong impact on the employment situ-

ation. The employment rate of the female students is much lower 

than that of the male, which only accounts for 0.596 of the latter. 

 As for the family influences, the non-needy students are easier to 

be recruited than the needy students, which reached 1.266 times. 

 Considering the organizational and academic factors, students 

graduate from science and engineering universities, first-class 

universities, and those who graduate with “Double Tops” disci-

plines have an advantage over others, and students graduate with 

a degree in the humanities suffer the most. 

 When it comes to the students themselves, the higher education 

background, the better academic performance, and the greater 

English proficiency representing the higher employment rate; 

therefore, it is recommended that the unemployed recent gradu-

ates should lower their expecting salary to increase the possibility 

of being hired, because volunteering to expect for less payment 

seems to be the most significant intervening variables; also, the 

higher expense they spend on job-seeking brings about the higher 

employment rate. 

The author concluded the four considerable relevant issues that re-

quire urgent attention: 1). The unemployment situation of recent graduates 

from rural areas; 2). Targeted poverty alleviation for needy graduates; 3). 

The hidden and inevitable employment discrimination; 4). Practical assis-

tance for graduates to start-up business as a result to improve the overall em-

ployment condition. 

 

Source: Journal of East China Normal University (Educational Sciences), 

2020; 38(10):110-126.