[New Tang Dynasty News, Beijing time, April 26, 2024]Due to China’s economic downturn, jobs are hard to find, and the unemployment rate is high. In addition to taking the civil service examination, many college graduates also squeezed their heads into working in neighborhood committees as community workers, in order to gain a job. a stable job.
Number of people taking exams for social work exceeds one million
On April 26, the entry “Young people who failed to pass the civil service examination squeezed their heads into neighborhood committees” was trending on Weibo, sparking heated discussion.
Public data shows that in the past three years, the number of applicants for the social worker professional qualification examination has reached new highs year after year. The number of applicants for the National Social Worker Professional Qualification Examination in 2021 is about 830,000, rising to 890,000 in 2022, and directly exceeding 1 million in 2023.
The Ministry of Civil Affairs of the Communist Party of China mentioned in the “14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Civil Affairs” that by 2025, the total number of social work professionals will reach 2 million, and the number of social work professionals in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai is required to reach 100,000 people.
In the eyes of many people, although there is no establishment and the income is not high, being a social worker is more stable. You don’t have to worry about starving to death or being laid off. More importantly, it is much easier to get the job than a civil servant.
Some netizens said: “From personal experience, the community establishment test in big cities is much more difficult than that in small cities.”
Some netizens said: “It’s over, I’m starting to apply for social work again.” “Because this job comes with five insurances and one fund, it’s really tiring.” “It shows the pressure and uneasiness that this society brings to young people.”
Some netizens lamented: “There is no way. Nowadays, companies are unwilling to give matching wages to inexperienced people, and I can’t use the money to start a business. I might as well go home and work, not rent a house, and save money.”
Some netizens said bluntly: “Neighborhood committees are poor people. The work at the grassroots level may be complicated, but they have a lot of resources. Land and enterprises are all under their control. The directors and secretaries of many local communities are rich people. They have luxury houses and cars. You get the idea. thi!
“Actually, the strongest organization is the neighborhood committee, which is very effective and has a low threshold. You can also obtain a household registration in key cities.”
As for the salary of community workers, social worker “Link Zhiyuan” posted a video on Douyin saying that the salary received by social workers in their area is between 60,000 and 70,000 yuan.
Jiangsu “Community Worker Lulu” released a video saying that her monthly salary is 5,900 yuan, the provident fund adds up to 1,700 yuan, the quarterly bonus is 2,000 yuan, and the year-end bonus fluctuates around 30,000 yuan. The recuperation fee is 3,000 yuan. If you don’t go there, you can get a coupon. This adds up to more than 90,000 yuan a year, plus a little more than 100,000 yuan in provident funds.
Lulu said that there is also a 500 yuan meal card every month, and the salary will be increased after working for a long time, because the salary is level 18 for three positions. She is now at level 3, with a salary of 5,000 yuan for level 1 and 94,000 yuan for level 18.
“My neighbor’s salary as a plumber in the local area is a little higher than that of the average person. A typical 12-hour shift in a factory only costs more than 6,000 yuan.” Lulu said that for someone with little ability like her, she is very satisfied to be able to do such a job. .
Hard to find jobs, social workers turn from unpopular to popular
“Ten Points” published an article stating that ten years ago, social work was an unpopular profession, but now it has become a popular position that young people are flocking to.
The article said that community worker Xiao Li majored in social work in college. When he graduated in 2018, most of his classmates did not consider becoming social workers and went to other industries. For students who stay as social workers, the wages are often unsatisfactory.
One of Xiao Li’s classmates works as a social worker in a town in Huizhou, with a salary of about 3,500 yuan. Next door is Foxconn, and the minimum wage for assembly line workers is 6,000 yuan.
However, in the past three years, due to the economic downturn, jobs are hard to find, and the unemployment rate is high, everyone has realized how valuable it is to have a stable job close to home. Therefore, many of Xiao Li’s classmates came back to work as social workers. The labor contracts were signed for five years, and there was almost no news of any agency closing down or employees being laid off.
Social workers become “knife handlers” responsible for maintaining stability and monitoring
In 2023, the State Council of the Communist Party of China established a Ministry of Social Work. There are specialized functional agencies from the State Council to the municipal level responsible for recruiting social workers, which attracted public attention.
At that time, Cai Shenkun, an independent current affairs commentator in the United States, posted on the Every corner of society.
Feng Chongyi, associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney, also told NTDTV that the motivation behind the establishment of the Central Department of Social Work is to strengthen stability maintenance work.
In early April this year, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the State Council issued the “Opinions on Strengthening the Construction of the Team of Community Workers,” which was reported on important pages by state media. Subsequently, community workers were recruited across China to closely monitor the movements of community residents. People with overseas relatives and friends will receive special attention.
Han Yue (anonymous), a community worker in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, told VOA that whether residents have overseas connections and whether people who have lived abroad for a long time come to visit relatives in residents’ homes are all matters that need to be paid attention to within the scope of their work.
During the New Year this year, many Chinese in Han Yue’s community who have become foreign nationals returned to their hometowns to visit relatives, and he had to visit them one by one to remind them to register.
Han Yue said that much of his work follows current events. He once went door-to-door to ask for the installation of anti-fraud apps and educated residents not to answer calls from overseas.
After graduating from Hanyue University, he worked in sales. Affected by epidemic prevention and control and the economic downturn, his performance was not satisfactory and his income was unstable. At the suggestion of his family, he found work as a local community worker.
Ms. Li from Jiangsu told VOA that she had previously revealed to community workers that her son went to the United States to study and settle in the United States after graduating from college and worked in a major American technology company. Her daughter-in-law was a Taiwanese who immigrated to the United States in the early years. As a result, she became the focus of community workers and was visited at least 10 times by community workers to inquire about her situation, especially her son’s situation in the United States.
From the previous “stability information officers” to “grid officers” and “micro-grid officers” to “community workers”, it highlights the CCP’s continuous upgrading of the collection and supervision of grassroots people’s information.
Claremont, USA. Pei Minxin, a professor at the Department of Government at Claremont McKenna College, conducted research and analysis and said that the Chinese Communist Party government uses a large number of informants to carry out surveillance. It is estimated that there are more than 10 million to more than 15 million informants in China.
(Comprehensive reporting by reporter Luo Tingting/Editor in charge: Wen Hui)
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Tags: Chinas economic downturn young people squeezed heads work social workers neighborhood committees Community workers Chinese young people Unemployment rate
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