THOSE comfortable days will be over soon, sighed Richard Sun with a little excitement. He will resume his studies at Shanghai International Studies University (SISU) this September as a graduate student after experiencing two years of jobless life.

Sun, who graduated from SISU in 2003, worked only three months in a local advertising company. He quit because he ¡°didn¡¯t like the job at all.¡±

During the following year and a half, Sun has stayed at home except for giving English classes in language schools on weekends. He can earn 3,000 to 4,000 yuan (US$363 to 484) a month through the part-time job if he is lucky. During low-income times, he depends on his mother¡¯s financial support.

¡°Everyday when I go out to the office, he just sits in front of the computer, sings and enjoys DVDs,¡± said his roommate surnamed Li.

¡°I worried a little during my jobless days, but I was unwilling to accept a job that I didn¡¯t like at all,¡± Sun said. ¡°I am not the only one who chose to be jobless, some of my friends have the same type of life.¡±

Sun¡¯s comment was not an idle one. Statistics from Shanghai government departments show the number of young jobless people is growing.

According to recent government statistics, the number of young people (between the ages of 16 and 25) accounted for more than 40 per cent of the city¡¯s total jobless population. Among these young people, one-third are college graduates.

The result of the fifth national population census in 2001 showed that 15-to-19-year-olds comprise one of the groups with the highest jobless rates. The other group with high unemployment is 35-to-44-year-olds.

¡°For years, the government has focused on solving the jobless problem for those in their 40s, while young people who lack professional skills and experience became a new jobless group,¡± said Xiao Lichun from the Institute of Population and Development Studies at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

Carefree attitude

What is different from the older jobless group is that some of these young people are not worried about their situation.

¡°I don¡¯t mean I wouldn¡¯t like to work. What I want is a job that I really enjoy, I can¡¯t waste time on a job I hate,¡± said Li Li (alias), a 25-year-old college graduate who hasn¡¯t been employed for about two years.

Every day, he sleeps until noon, then browses the Internet for the afternoon. When his girlfriend arrives home they cook and have dinner together. In the evening, they usually enjoy DVDs, sports games or go out to parties.

Except for selling goods via the Internet, money for most of his living expenses comes from his girlfriend, who earns about 3,000 yuan (US$360) a month.

¡°I don¡¯t care about his joblessness, I love him and believe in his talent. I believe that he will find a job he really likes and have a great future,¡± said his girlfriend who is unwilling to give her name. Predictably, their love affair is under huge pressure from families and friends. ¡°But of course, I hope he will have an income as soon as possible.¡±

In Chinese tradition, a man should shoulder economic responsibility for the family. He should earn at least a little more than the woman. Living on a woman¡¯s income is seen as losing face for a man.

But Li doesn¡¯t seem to care about what others say, according to his girlfriend. He is confident he will eventually achieve great business success in Shanghai, though he hasn¡¯t any idea what he will do yet.

Ren Ke (alias), 23, never went to work after graduating from middle school because of health problems.

¡°I think my health is OK now, but my parents are still willing to keep me at home,¡± he said. ¡°Sometimes I feel too bored to stay at home all day long.¡±

Ren¡¯s community gave him the opportunity to be a store assistant, arranging goods on shelves for around 1,200 yuan (US$145) a month, not bad for a middle school graduate. But Ren didn¡¯t accept the job because his parent thought the job was too menial.

¡°Now many parents with only one child have rather good incomes, they don¡¯t mind supporting their children until they find a satisfying job. So such young people stay at home, some of them study further to get more qualifications,¡± Xiao said.

Career choice

¡°I don¡¯t understand them at all, how could they stay at home without doing anything ¡ª just a kid depending on their parents or even girlfriends?¡± said Xu Jing, who was born in the 1970s. ¡°If I had no job, I would try my best to find one at once.¡±

In China, it is natural for one to find a job after graduation. In fact, for most people, the goal of all the study is a good job.

¡°But this young jobless group, most of whom were born in the 1980s, have a background totally different from that of their elder generation,¡± said sociologist Yu Hai. ¡°They are impacted by various cultures from home and abroad, which help them realize that they can have various lifestyles instead of just study and work. In Western countries, it is normal to see students take a year off and not immediately enter into employment.¡±

As a matter of fact, taking a year off is still on an upward trend among students and graduates in Western societies, said Xu Kaihe from Teaching and Projects Abroad (TPA), a UK-based organization recruiting graduates from academic institutions for unpaid work experience abroad.

Susan Evans, a recent graduate from a British university, is one of the hundreds of young Westerners who come to Shanghai each year for their year off.

¡°I took a year off mostly because I was not sure which career to choose,¡± said Evans.

She spent up to three months doing an internship with a local English-language newspaper in Shanghai, and is now spending the rest of the year as a waitress back home in England earning money to pay off her student loans, and also doing some volunteer work for a charity organization there.

If the year is structured by travel, volunteering or work experience, taking a year off can actually enhance a CV and help with job hunting afterwards. Employers in the West often like to see signs of open-mindedness, adaptability, independence, problem-solving skills and other qualities that can be gained from such experience, said Xu.

¡°Sometimes I feel impatient and wish that I had found a job to start immediately after university. On the other hand, I have now had time to consider carefully which career to choose, plus I have had a chance to relax after 17 years of full-time education, so I do not see it as time wasted,¡± said Evans.