More than 80 percent of Shanghai's jobless under the age of 35 quit their last job, according to a new unemployment survey published by East China Normal University Friday.
   
Two-hundred people aged 16 to 35 who were looking for work at employment markets in the city were asked to fill out questionnaires and face-to-face interview for the survey. Most of the respondents used to work either in the service industry or for private companies.
   
More than 70 percent of interviewees said they "face strong pressure to get a new job."
   
"It's obvious that unforced unemployment has become a trend of the city," said Zhan Xinhua, a researcher at the university's population institute which conducted the survey.
   
"The purpose of the survey is to find out the reasons and characteristics behind the city's youth unemployment," Zhan said.
   
She said respondents who had quit their last job did so for five main reasons: to get a better salary; to find a more promising job; they were unsatisfied with their managers; they were disgusted with the original job; or they want to work in a new environment.
   
"We also found in our survey that 90 percent of the respondents, who have been jobless for more than one year, are Shanghai natives," said Zhan, noting that many of locals are very selective in choosing jobs since they often don't have heavy family burdens to consider.
   
Shen kaiyan, an associate professor at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, said there are two major reasons behind unforced unemployment.
   
She explained that many well-educated young people are very fond of an "easy" and well-paid job. But when a position fails to meet their requirement, they would rather choose to stay at home instead of taking an unsatisfactory job.
   
"Normally, the families of those unforced unemployed have pretty good economic conditions," she said.
   
Shen also noted many other young people just chose to stay at home for an uncertain period of time before they get a visa to study in foreign countries.
   
According to the Shanghai Labor and Social Security Bureau, the city's registered jobless rate reached a record high of 4.9 percent by the end of last year. This year, the city expects to keep the rate within 4.6 percent.

(Shanghai Daily November 15, 2004)