Graduates pin their hopes on the 'golden rice-bowl'

The graduation season should be one of celebration, joy, nostalgia and high expectations. But for many fresh graduates in China, it is a time of confusion, anxiousness and disappointment, because graduation can also mean unemployment.

Although the Beijing municipal commission on education said on May 1 that three out of every 10 fresh graduates in Beijing had signed employment contracts, many fresh graduates are still reluctant or scared to explore the market to get a job. Many of the people born in the late 1980s or early 1990s pin their hopes on the "golden rice-bowl" by trying desperately to get a job in government departments, State-owned enterprises (SOEs) or other public institutions.

Bianzhi (State administrative service for which wages and welfare are paid from public funds) remains popular. And it is not uncommon to see people with a master's or doctoral degree and even overseas returnees pursuing the post of a community worker or chengguan (local urban management officer).