China – Graduates willing to take less for first position

More than half of college students who will graduate next year are willing to accept a monthly salary of less than 4,000 yuan ($638), according to a survey released on Saturday.

The survey, conducted by renren.com, a popular social networking website which launched its job-search service for graduates in July, ran from Aug 21 to Sept 16.

It received more than 150,000 replies and had a valid sample of 94,739 college students who were expected to graduate next year, said Wang Xiehua, an officer from renren.com, on Monday.

Those surveyed came from 31 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the mainland, including undergraduate students, master students and PhD students, the report said.

More than 80 percent of surveyed students expected a salary in their first job of less than 6,000 yuan per month. About 54 percent of respondents would accept a monthly salary of between 2,000 yuan to 4,000 yuan, and about 21 percent would accept a salary below 2,000 yuan.

For most of the undergraduate or junior college students, the expected salary was between 2,000 yuan to 4,000 yuan per month. For masters students, 32.3 percent expected their monthly salary to reach 4,000 yuan to 6,000 yuan after graduation and 20.6 percent expected a salary of between 6,000 yuan to 8,000 yuan.

The expected salary for most PhD students was above 10,000 yuan.

“The expectation of a monthly salary of less than 4,000 yuan was objective. Actually the salary is higher than the average level of income in China,” said Song Bao’an, a professor at the Department of Labor and Social Security at Jilin University, on Monday…

via Graduates willing to take less for first position |Society |chinadaily.com.cn.