When Spring Festival ends, job-hunting reaches its peak levels. There is, in fact, a correlation between Spring Festival and unemployment. People quit their jobs to return to their families for the New Year celebrations. Therefore, at the end of the week-long festivities, everyone is on the search for employment again.
But this article is not about the average man on the street finding work; it’s graduates of higher education who are finding employment. A recent survey concluded that nearly 97% of Shanghai’s students found employment within their fields of study in 2005. That is a slightly higher percentage than the year before. With competition remaining fierce, a weird phenomenon appeared during this year’s job-hunting season: Girls find work easier than boys.
Gao Huan, a Shanghainese girl who found a hotel job last summer, "It wasn't difficult to find this job because it matches my major in my college very well. And Shanghai locals find jobs easier here as the companies don't need to solve our housing and Hukou problems."
According to the survey, about 40% of Shanghai graduates entered the service industry and manufacturing sectors last year with less than 1% choosing to open their own businesses.
