More Tibetan students employed in private sector

Though many college graduates in the Tibet autonomous region expect stable jobs in the public sector, more have chosen employment in the private sector in 2019, the Lhasa Human Resources and Social Security Bureau said on Monday.

As of now, the city's college graduate employment rate is 96.3 percent, and employment in the private sector accounts for 78 percent of total employment, up 12 percent from the previous year.

He Nengcheng, deputy head of the bureau, said employment matters a lot to families and the country, and it is a top priority. To that end, 2019 has been a transitional year for college graduates to seek jobs in the market.

"Hosting job fairs is a key measure the region has taken to deal with employment, and we have been conducting a key job fair once every three months and small job fairs once every few weeks," He said. "The employers are from the region and other provinces."

According to the bureau, the city has conducted five large-scale job fairs for college graduates and impoverished rural residents and 33 small-scale job fairs designated for women and poverty-stricken groups. More than 32 job fairs were conducted in the counties and 1,120 people were employed, among them more than 540 rural residents.

In 2019, the city has seen new employment of 13,100 in its urban areas, with the registered unemployment rate in urban areas staying within 2.2 percent.

The city had 4,647 new college graduates this year, and 4,475 of them found employment. With an employment rate of 96.3 percent, more than 74,700 rural residents have job opportunities and revenue has hit more than 593 million yuan ($84 million).

According to a public service blue paper released by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in January 2019, Lhasa ranked top among 38 Chinese cities for job employment and social insurance.

According to the bureau, all levels of Lhasa municipal governments have focused on job employment, job fair information is delivered to job seekers via social media and the government also subsidizes college graduates who seek self-employment.

"This year, the government has already spent more than 27 million yuan subsidizing investment in college graduates, and 794 students have benefited from the policy," He said.

Tenzin Kunchen, an earlier college graduate, is a direct beneficiary of the governmental support policy. He received a 50,000 yuan subsidy from the government in 2017 after trying to find a job for three years after he graduated from Shenyang Jianzhu University in 2014.

Tenzin said he had financial difficulties at first, but thanks to the support of the government he was able to start his own company producing audio guides.

"With more and more students graduating every year, employment in governmental institutes become more difficult, so I chose self-employment," the 27-year-old said. "Tibet is a tourism destination for people all over the world. My company produces audio guides in Tibetan, Mandarin and English, and I hope tourists will have a true understanding of scenery sites via different audio guides."