By Li Hongmei

Fresh graduates in China are expecting to face a cut-throat competition in the job market in the coming years. While the annual number of graduates will hover around 7 million, the number of places for them to work is going to plummet, according to the Chinese-language Beijing Times.

Many internet users said this year would probably be the most difficult time in history for fresh graduates to get a job. The number of young people graduating from college and hunting for a job reached a record high of 6.99 million, a figure amounting to half of the available jobs in the country.

Yin Weimin, Human Resources and Social Security minister, said the number of able workers aged between 20 and 59 will peak at 831 million in 2020. Floods of fresh graduates will have to tussle with each other in a shrinking job market as well the 16 million graduating from vocational schools, high schools and retiring from military service.

Economic restructuring, the development of new industries, urbanization, and agriculture modernization are the solution for job scarcity, said the minister. China will develop its service sector to increase job opportunities. Currently, the sector amounts to 36% of the job market in China, lower than the average of 50%-60% in developing countries and far lower than the 80%-90% in developed nations.

The ministry plans to mobilize 1,000 vocational schools and training institutions to help fresh graduates enhance their technical skills. These graduates will also become the first group of people that are allowed to seek jobs in areas outside the jurisdiction of their hukou, or household registration.