Employment is always under the spotlight among Chinese youngsters. CGTN launched a poll on Weibo, a Chinese social media platform, asking young people to whom employment-related policies are most important during this year's Two Sessions. Providing more job openings, improving the system for guaranteeing salary payments, and protecting employees' rights led the poll results.

According to China's Ministry of Education, there were over 9 million college graduates flocking to the job market in 2021 and the number will hit a record high in 2022. Faced with these numbers, China has made stabilizing employment and expanding the job market one of the top policy issues in the 14th Five Year Plan, and improving the employment system for college graduates has been identified as a priority.

A series of measures have since been rolled out, such as encouraging college graduates to start businesses, implementing policies including tax reductions and exemptions, and offering start-up funding and loans. The Ministry of Education has worked with other authorities to launch online and in-person campus recruitment and advice sessions. China also set a goal of creating 55 million new urban jobs by 2025, with an urban unemployment rate at under 5.5 percent by that year, in the 14th national employment blueprint.

Besides stable traditional jobs, more and more graduates are embracing flexible employment. About 16 percent of college graduates chose flexible employment over the past two years, and new careers like content uploaders, live streamers and e-sports players are becoming popular among the young people.

To adapt to new forms of jobs and platforms, China last year issued guidelines calling on companies to protect employee rights. For example, ride-hailing drivers and food delivery workers have been offered occupational injury insurance as part of pilot programs in big cities like Beijing and Shanghai.

Some social media users have raised the issue about age discrimination in the workplace, saying, for example, that employees over the age of 35 are more likely to be laid off and have a hard time getting back into work. NPC deputy and TV drama writer Jiang Shengnan said she will propose eliminating age discrimination in the workplace during this year's Two Sessions, and suggested that the "35-year-old threshold" for civil servants be gradually lifted. She said removing the age limit would help promote the work enthusiasm of middle-aged employees.

For a big country like China with 1.4 billion people, the government always puts employment on top of its agenda. In sum, young people's voices are being heard and government' efforts on keeping employment stable are being made as well.

Survey researcher: Cheng Meihao

Script writer & on-camera reporter: Xu Jinhui

Video editor: Zeng Hongen

Cover image: Yin Yating

Producer: Li Tianfu

Chief editor: Lin Dongwei

Supervisor: Li Chunxia