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China’s defeated youth: Young Chinese have little hope for the future

economist.com

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Re: China’s defeated youth: Young Chinese have little hope for the future

#21

Post by glitchc »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #3

It’s so interesting to see this play out the same in both China and the US; a generation that can’t afford to buy a home, were told higher education would lead to a secure career and it doesn’t, falling fertility rate accordingly, etc. “Eat bitterness” indeed.

Education, however, consistently leads to better outcomes. White collar workers are doing well across the country (US). Forget about tech, accountants, HR professionals, economists, risk analysts, project managers, etc. are all doing well. It's predominantly the un- and under-educated that are being left behind.

Re: China’s defeated youth: Young Chinese have little hope for the future

#22

Post by NhanH »

The article mostly focuses on educated youth and white collar jobs (though it does touch on blue collar). But why would they start with an example of someone making less than half the average income of Chinese (about 10000 yuan iirc)? Sure, if you are in the bottom 25% of income, things will look bleak. I am not saying that is not the issue, but the article is not about that topic.

Re: China’s defeated youth: Young Chinese have little hope for the future

#23

Post by toomuchtodo »

jorts wrote: post #5
toomuchtodo wrote: post #3

It’s so interesting to see this play out the same in both China and the US; a generation that can’t afford to buy a home, were told higher education would lead to a secure career and it doesn’t, falling fertility rate accordingly, etc. “Eat bitterness” indeed.

Wildly different scenarios.

Different system start points for sure (representative democracy and shades of capitalism vs authoritarianism and faux capitalism), but the outcomes being similar is undeniable. Why? That’s what’s interesting. Is it solely a demographic compression story? Generational inequality also appears to be a contributing factor.

It’s hope (or lack thereof), which is a lever for aggregate motivation across a labor force participation cohort. No hope, no effort. Meaningful work is also a component.

https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3122636/give-ch...

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01672... (PDF: https://web.archive.org/web/20210219205525/https://dukespace...)

Re: China’s defeated youth: Young Chinese have little hope for the future

#24

Post by fullshark »

glitchc wrote: post #21
toomuchtodo wrote: post #3

It’s so interesting to see this play out the same in both China and the US; a generation that can’t afford to buy a home, were told higher education would lead to a secure career and it doesn’t, falling fertility rate accordingly, etc. “Eat bitterness” indeed.

Education, however, consistently leads to better outcomes. White collar workers are doing well across the country (US). Forget about tech, accountants, HR professionals, economists, risk analysts, project managers, etc. are all doing well. It's predominantly the un- and under-educated that are being left behind.

Unless of course you took out massive student loans for that education and failed to study an employable skill, those silly 18 year olds, not able to understand the shifting labor market and make sensible 30 year predictions on what skills will be desired.

Re: China’s defeated youth: Young Chinese have little hope for the future

#25

Post by space_fountain »

themodelplumber wrote: post #10
booleandilemma wrote: post #4

Is China writing articles like this about the UK/US? I feel like there's plenty of material.

Yes absolutely. Not only that, but they run those stories through various state channels with the intent to propagandize...even to non-US/UK countries, and even via media like shortwave radio. (While also actively jamming other radio stations in that case)

I think the time most recently when I’ve felt this was talking to a young adult from Hong Kong in a hostel in Switzerland last month and he was surprised that the tap water is safe to drink in most of America

Re: China’s defeated youth: Young Chinese have little hope for the future

#26

Post by anigbrowl »

NhanH wrote: post #22

The article mostly focuses on educated youth and white collar jobs (though it does touch on blue collar). But why would they start with an example of someone making less than half the average income of Chinese (about 10000 yuan iirc)? Sure, if you are in the bottom 25% of income, things will look bleak. I am not saying that is not the issue, but the article is not about that topic.

There's a lot more people in the bottom 25% of income than in the top 25%. Do they not matter?

Re: China’s defeated youth: Young Chinese have little hope for the future

#27

Post by ReptileMan »

mkl95 wrote: post #18
booleandilemma wrote: post #4

Is China writing articles like this about the UK/US? I feel like there's plenty of material.

China kinda owns the Western teen ideology via TikTok. They can make them feel defeated at any time.

Western teen and millennials are perfectly capable to do that on their own. It was us millennials that elevated grievance politics and cry-bulling into an art form. From the moment I turned 18 it was continuous barrage of news how fucked up everything is.

Re: China’s defeated youth: Young Chinese have little hope for the future

#28

Post by toomuchtodo »

glitchc wrote: post #21
toomuchtodo wrote: post #3

It’s so interesting to see this play out the same in both China and the US; a generation that can’t afford to buy a home, were told higher education would lead to a secure career and it doesn’t, falling fertility rate accordingly, etc. “Eat bitterness” indeed.

Education, however, consistently leads to better outcomes. White collar workers are doing well across the country (US). Forget about tech, accountants, HR professionals, economists, risk analysts, project managers, etc. are all doing well. It's predominantly the un- and under-educated that are being left behind.

UPS workers are doing well because they have a union. Important data point.

Re: China’s defeated youth: Young Chinese have little hope for the future

#29

Post by slaw »

almost_usual wrote: post #12
jessriedel wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone else have captcha issues with archive.is these days? I just hit an infinite loop of repeated asks to solve a captcha. This is a relatively recent issue. Here's an alternative link from the Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20230819151745/https://www.econo...

Are you using Apple Private Relay? I think there is an issue with them and Cloudflare.

I just tested.

Firefox, Chrome, Brave for Android and Firefox for Windows - infinite loop

Edge for Windows - no captcha

Re: China’s defeated youth: Young Chinese have little hope for the future

#30

Post by booleandilemma »

mkl95 wrote: post #18
booleandilemma wrote: post #4

Is China writing articles like this about the UK/US? I feel like there's plenty of material.

China kinda owns the Western teen ideology via TikTok. They can make them feel defeated at any time.

I mean, is it China's fault my sister can't afford a house?

Is it China's fault I got screamed at by a homeless man on the subway last week?

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