As unemployment has soared to unprecedented levels, Chinese youth are lining up in front of temples to keep themselves sane, reported Reuters Thursday.

“Queues stretch hundreds of metres around temples in China on weekends, as despondent young worshippers pray to find jobs in an economy slowly clawing its way back from the coronavirus pandemic,” the Reuters report said.

The report quoted 22-year-old Wang Xiaoning as saying, “I hope to find some peace in temples”. Xiaoning is feeling the pinch as he cannot afford a house and neither does he have a job.

“Wang is among a record 11.58 million university graduates who face a job market still reeling from last year’s stringent “zero-COVID” lockdowns as well as crackdowns on the technology and education sectors, key traditional hirers,” Reuters report said.

According to the report, temple visits have spiked 310% so far this year compared to 2022. As per the source cited by the report, “roughly half the visitors were born after 1990”.

The report also quoted 19-year-old Chen. “The threshold for employment keeps rising,” Chen said praying for her career prospects at the Lama Temple in Beijing. Chen is yet not a graduate.

“The pressure is overwhelming,” added Chen, who gave only her surname for privacy reasons.

“The fifth of young Chinese without jobs among a highly-educated generation is a record,” the report said. China, according to Reuters, wants to create 12 million new jobs in 2023, compared to 11 million last year.

“There is a serious oversupply of university graduates and their priority is survival,” said Zhang Qidi, a researcher at the Center for International Finance Studies, who added that many had resorted to ride-sharing or delivery jobs, Reuters report said.

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