Tea at Trianon: China’s Job Market Crashes

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, August 20, 2022

China’s Job Market Crashes

From TFP:

Everyone knows that today’s youth are tomorrow’s leaders. Even China’s president Xi Jinping recognizes that the dismal future of his communist regime must rely upon new blood. In a speech in 2019, he affirmed that “China’s hope lies in youth.” He flattered them by calling young people the most energetic force in society and encouraged them to defend the nation’s high ideals ardently. After all, the communist tyranny can only continue if the youth are on board.

Unfortunately for Xi, many Chinese youths are jumping ship. They seek something more than his “high ideals.” Many young people are well educated, and some work high-paying jobs. However, the pressures to survive in a highly competitive workplace have taken their toll. Many people just want out.

Using highly suspicious statistics, China claims to have averaged a growth rate of 10 percent GDP over the last thirty years. However, that rate has proven unsustainable with the COVID crisis and supply chain problems. In a perfect storm that is much of its own doing, Beijing’s totalitarian “zero tolerance” attitude toward COVID has triggered massive layoffs and an uncertain business climate. Its regulatory restrictions are suffocating companies in the private sector.

To make matters worse, 2022 has produced a record number of graduates from universities and vocational schools. More than 12 million jobseekers are now competing in a market that does not have enough corresponding jobs. This mismatch is causing rising frustration among applicants with high expectations. (Read more.)