Chinese graduates begin their job search as early as a year before graduation due to employment pressures, which too frequently results in failing academic years, said Chen Junliang, CPPCC member and professor with the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, on March 5.

China has 25 million students of higher education and 18 million students of middle vocational schools, producing 6 million graduates of middle vocational schools and at least 6 million bachelor holders at present. The annual surplus labor of China's countryside totals nearly 10 million and still goes up every year. On the contrary, the employment capacity of China is limited, with 5.05 million being employed in 2006.

The serious employment situation presses Chinese graduates to spend most of their time in seeking jobs, added Chen, who also pointed out that it usually takes three to 10 months for undergraduate and graduate students to land a job. That means they really only have three and a half years to receive academic education at schools. Hence, students become distracted from study and are engaged in job hunting in the last year of university education.

People cannot be optimistic about the job market of graduate students either, who have only a half year to finish academic study in the last year, Professor Chen continued.

There are thus two major problems that confront job-seeking students, concluded Professor Chen.