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Why has pretending to have a job become popular in China?

China’s youth unemployment rate has stayed stubbornly high since Covid, and is currently above 14...

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14.23 15 Aug 2025


Why has pretending to have a job become popular in China?


Listen to this episode


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14.23 15 Aug 2025


China’s youth unemployment rate has stayed stubbornly high since Covid, and is currently above 14%.

As a result, some young people have taken to pretending to have a job.

They are facilitated in this by The Pretend To Work Company, but what exactly is this company, and why are they so popular?

Professor Xiang Biao is Director of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology and joins Seán to discuss.


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Moncrieff

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