Similarly, another Chinese woman who used to work at ByteDance, the China-based parent company of the viral mobile app Tiktok, is now on the move. “I have only one thing to say. I am very happy after leaving the job in the company. Although my body is tired, my mind is very satisfied,” these are the words of the young woman on social media.
Recently, the number of young people leaving high-paying jobs in China has been increasing. Many young people are forsaking the hefty salaries they could have earned, and are moving into physically demanding but low-paying jobs such as waiter, cashier, and coffee maker. Notably, the trend is visible across the country as unemployment rates among China’s youth soar to record highs.
Over the past year, young people in China have been sharing photos and videos announcing their new jobs on Xiaohongshu, the Chinese version of Instagram. As Business Insider reports on June 12, the hashtag “My First Physical Work Experience” has been viewed by more than 30 million people.
Most of the young professionals who share this kind of post on social media mention the mental happiness and satisfaction they get from small jobs. The conflict of the message that most of the people point out is that it is very comforting to change the job and there is no need to get tensed thinking about the performance report.
“White-collar work doesn’t give you self-satisfaction. Even if you put your life on hold for work, it’s a void. We’re just like a screw that can be easily replaced. But today, even though it’s a sports job, there’s peace of mind,” the woman from Liaoning wrote on social media.
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“Many young people are disillusioned with the work they do. They feel they are not being hired because they need it, but rather to run a computer on a desk,” said Jia Mio, assistant professor of sociology, about the trend of young people in China leaving high-paying jobs.
