Young Chinese are ‘retiring’ in the countryside as China’s unemployment woes grate

Fed up with China’s employment situation, young people on the mainland are retreating to the countryside.

China’s Gen Z and millennials are increasingly documenting their rural day-to-day “retirement” lives on social media after declaring that they got laid off, quit or are simply jobless. These self-identified “retirees,” who often state they were born in the 90’s or 00’s in their profiles, post their journeys online as they embark on extended career breaks or remain unemployed.

Last year, a 22-year-old self-proclaimed retiree who goes by the alias of Wenzi Dada set up residence in a bamboo shack at the edge of a cliff in China’s mountainous Guizhou province. Wenzi, who previously held a variety of jobs in auto repair, construction and manufacturing told local media that he grew tired of dealing with machines every day and quit to return to his hometown. He tried to find a job there but was never satisfied with the options.

“As time goes by, I begin to think about the meaning of life. Life is not just about the prosperity of the city. The tranquility of the countryside is also a kind of beauty,” he wrote in his Douyin profile, according to a CNBC translation. Douyin is the sister app to ByteDance-owned TikTok and tailored to the Chinese market.

Since moving to the mountains, Wenzi uploads videos to Douyin account showing how he cooks, harvests vegetables and maintains his mountaintop hut.

Job hunting has been particularly difficult for young people as the Chinese economy struggles, said Chung Chi Nien, chair professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

A record 11.8 million college graduates entered the labor market this year, intensifying competition which has led to a “devaluation” of college degrees, the professor explained. For individuals with fewer credentials and experience, this has further lowered their odds of getting hired. 

China’s youth unemployment rate in August hit a new record of 18.8%, the highest since the new system of record-keeping began in December. That’s up from 17.1% in July. The recent data came amid a slew of disappointing Chinese economic signals as the world’s second-largest economy continues to struggle with weak domestic demand and a downturn in the housing sector.

“If you add these factors together, it is not surprising that young people are choosing to ‘retreat’ or ‘retire’ to the countryside as it has become very challenging to find a job, especially good jobs in top-tier cities,” Chung told CNBC. 

Popular retreat destinations include Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan — provinces where the cost of living is a quarter of that in Shanghai.

For the past three years, high value-added services sectors which used to absorb many fresh graduates contracted sharply, in particular real estate and finance, said Dan Wang, chief economist at Hang Seng Bank China. While there are lower-paying jobs available in cities such as delivery or ride hailing, educated young people do not want them and would rather sit on the sidelines, said Wang.

There are also jobs available in the manufacturing sector, but Keyu Jin, associate professor of economics at the London School of Economics, said young people do not want these roles either.

“They rather sit at home with their parents [and] wait out for a better job,” she said.

But China’s young “retirees” have pushed back against criticism that they are too picky or have given up.

“This is not called lying down, this is called making preparations for retirement in advance, so that you can enjoy your old age in the future,” 22-year-old Wenzi said in a post uploaded in April.

Throughout his videos, he relayed how other villagers have critiqued his lifestyle and compared him to peers his age who are gainfully employed.

“Who mandated that young people need to go out and work?” Wenzi rused.

Such accusations, while unfair, are understandable in Chinese societal culture and context, said Hang Seng Bank China’s Wang.

“They get berated because Chinese people tend to think whoever gets higher education has to put that in use afterwards and work hard,” said the economist, adding that education is usually a family’s biggest investment aside from housing.

Wang noted many of these young people do have some income, turning to e-commerce or trying to become social media influencers. The countryside can be a good setting for running these businesses as the natural backdrop and relaxing lifestyle can draw in viewers.

Other establishments have also caught on to the unemployment trend and are actively catering to it, with increasing reports on “youth nursing homes” in both local reports and social media.

These youth nursing homes brand themselves as facilities for young people to check in and “lie down” whenever they want to and often exclude guests above 45 years old, according to one youth nursing home founder.

While experts told CNBC this could be a marketing gimmick, the popularity still reflects the sense of distress among Gen Z and millennials as well as a desire for a slower paced lifestyle.

“Young people experiencing high stress or a sense of desperation are seeking places to reflect and potentially reset their lives, thus driving the need for ‘junior nursing homes'” said Jia Miao, an assistant professor at NYU Shanghai. She added that it’s positive that the market is diversifying to meet the needs of these young individuals who are hoping for a space to breathe and recover.

But how long could this wave of “retirements” and “nursing home” trips last?

While rural China will continue to be a good break and refuge for urban unemployment, these young Chinese may not stay in the countryside for too long. Rural China does not offer the modern, middle-class lifestyle that young Chinese desire, let alone high quality medical care and education, said Wang.

“This kind of reverse migration is also unlikely to be a long term trend. It’s at most transitory… The ultimate goal for those kids is still to go back to the city in the long run,” she said.