Job market not that bad for grads

Colleges in China are expected to churn out a record 6.99 million graduates this year amid a falling employment rate (in Beijing the figure is 28.24 percent while in Shanghai it is 44.4 percent). But it would still be wrong to say that this year is going to be the most difficult for fresh graduates, says an article in Chongqing Morning Post. Excerpts:

Whether a college graduate can find a job or not largely depends on the bar he/she sets for his/her career. The employment rate cannot increase substantially if the expectations of employers and employees do not match.

During a recent trip to Tianjin, President Xi Jinping encouraged college students to be both ambitious and down-to-earth while looking for a job, and start their careers from the grassroots level if need be. If college graduates are far-sighted and flexible in their approach to employment, the job market would become much more encouraging and less difficult.

Joint efforts of all social sectors are needed to make the job market friendly for new recruits as well as employers. Favoritism, nepotism and unfair demands by employers have sullied the job market and deprived many outstanding graduates of getting the right jobs. Besides, discriminations in terms of gender, age, hukou (household registration) and appearance have also closed the door on many qualified candidates.

But there is no denying that the job market has become fairer. The Ministry of Education recently issued a notice prohibiting employers from recruiting only candidates from a select number of universities and thus removing the technical obstacles for many fresh graduates.

But it is not as easy to remove the psychological obstacles of graduates. To make the job market a level-playing field for all, the government should take measures to ensure that recruitment is really fair and fresh graduates should change their attitude and take up the challenge of starting their careers at the grassroots level or with tough jobs.

Stricter elevator rules needed

Many elevator- and escalator-related accidents, some of them fatal, were reported last week. But such accidents are always blamed on elevator or maintenance companies while supervision departments are rarely pulled up, says an article in Beijing News. Excerpts:

According to the emergency notice of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, such accidents can be blamed on "insufficient implementation of safe use and management (rules) of elevators" and "lack of elevator maintenance". The administration also says that elevator (and escalator) safety rules have to be strengthened.

Industry insiders agree that most elevator-related accidents occur because of lack of maintenance rather than no maintenance at all. If this indeed is the case, why are supervision department officials not held at least partly responsible for the accidents and punished for dereliction of duty? Perhaps the puzzling laws and regulations on elevator and escalator safety have something to do with that.

Important factors like elevator quality, manufacture, inspection, maintenance and safe use are scattered across the Law on Product Quality, Real Right Law and the Regulation on Safety Supervision of Special Equipment. This makes it difficult to identify the party that should be held responsible when an accident occurs.

The recent accidents have made it all the urgent to streamline and strengthen the laws and regulations on elevator and escalator safety.

(China Daily 05/23/2013 page12)