China's youth 'lying flat' as economy slows, and 'leisure is worth more than several thousand yuan'

With the employment outlook worsening due to the economic slowdown, Chu Yi is choosing to “stay flat,” a Chinese term that describes people who work just enough to afford to spend their time doing what they enjoy might.

The Shanghai-based 23-year-old used to work at a fashion company but said she quit her job two years ago because she often had to work overtime and hated her boss.

Chu now works from home for a travel company just one day a week, giving her enough time to practice tattooing as part of a six-month training course to become a full-time tattoo artist.

And she's not the only one “lying flat”: Although there is no data on how many young Chinese are opting out of corporate jobs they would have traditionally taken, the youth unemployment rate rose to a Record high of 21.3 percent in June In an economy still struggling to return to pre-pandemic growth levels, several Chinese college graduates have said they are trading down in search of a source of income.

“For me, the work doesn’t have much meaning,” Chu said. “Most of it seems to be getting the job done for your boss and making him happy. So I decided I didn’t want to work.”

There are around 280 million young Chinese people who like Chu and were born between 1995 and 2010. Surveys show that this Generation Z is the most pessimistic of all age groups in the country.

Placing this generation amid some of the slowest economic growth in nearly half a century is a key policy challenge for President Xi Jinping, and last month the Human Resources Ministry said further efforts were needed to boost employment in 2024, particularly for the youth. to promote.

Zhou Yun, an assistant professor of sociology at the University of Michigan, said that while it appears some young people are withdrawing from the corporate rat race, it is impossible to ignore their pessimism about the future.

My current salary, even though it is not much, is enough to cover my daily expenses. Leisure time is worth much more than several thousand YuanChu Yi

As China's economy slows and the labor market remains tight, “it is a major challenge for young people to deal with rigid social inequalities, tightening political control and a bleak economic outlook,” Zhou said.

All of this combined leads young people like Chu to put their own well-being and interests above what she called the “infinite pressures” of corporate work.

Chu said she is much happier now and believes her choice is “worthwhile.”

“My current salary is enough to cover my daily expenses, even if it is not much. Leisure time is worth much more than several thousand yuan,” she said.