China’s Unemployment Nightmares

Forgot to do a shout out for our piece on what keeps China’s leaders awake at night, here. If this story is any indication, the police ae alrady gearing up for further unrest. One thing I didn’t get into was graduate unemployment, an issue that has been out there for some time. With graduates pouring out of the many new universities set up in recent years–and many of them first time graduates for whom their families have saved their last pennies and on whom they have pinned their greatest hopes–and finding no jobs, the level of disappointment is high–and rising. Historically, this is bad news. If you have a foot on your neck it’s hard to get up. But it’s people who are already up and ready to run who get knocked down –those with raised expectations that have been disappointed– who cause revolutions.