Bleak Fate: Overseas Graduates Struggle to Find Work, Forced to Return Home
Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia - The wave of Chinese students returning home after studying abroad has reached its highest level in the last eight years.
The difficulty of finding jobs in the host country, stricter visa regulations, and increasingly fierce global job competition have led many graduates to choose to return to their hometown.
A 2025 China Returnee Employment Survey Report released by the Chinese recruitment platform, Zhaopin, shows that the number of job seekers who recently returned to China after graduating abroad increased by 12% year-on-year. This figure is the highest in the last eight years.
Although it does not detail the absolute number, Zhaopin states that the proportion of overseas graduates returning to China is now more than double that of 2018 when the survey was first conducted.
This data indicates an increasingly strong trend of returning home. Except in 2023 when the Covid-19 pandemic hampered mobility, the number of overseas graduates returning to China has continued to increase almost every year, according to a report quoted by China Daily.
The majority of graduates returning come from advanced Western countries. The UK is the largest source country for graduates with approximately 34%, followed by Australia with 22%, and the United States with 8%.
The recruitment platform Zhaopin, as quoted by the South China Morning Post, states that this phenomenon reflects “strong confidence” from the global workforce in the prospects in China.
Data from the Chinese Ministry of Education also reinforces this trend. In 2024, approximately 495,000 overseas graduates returned to China, an increase of more than 19% compared to the previous year.
The ministry recorded that since the reform and opening-up policy began in 1978 to 2024, a total of 8.88 million Chinese citizens have studied abroad.
Of the 7.43 million students who completed their studies, as many as 6.44 million chose to return to China, according to the Xinhua news agency. Meanwhile, since 2012, as many as 5.63 million students have returned to China, equivalent to 87% of the total number of graduates who have returned since the late 1970s.
The Technology Sector is the Target
The Zhaopin report states that the internet, education, and consulting sectors are the main targets for job applications by overseas graduates. However, in terms of growth, the information technology and advanced manufacturing sectors recorded the fastest increase.
Fields such as new materials, optoelectronics, robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), smart hardware, and aerospace are experiencing a surge in demand for labor.
“These sectors are generally characterized by high research and development intensity, significant technological barriers, and a strong international orientation,” the Zhaopin report wrote, quoted from HR Asia, Friday (15/5/2026).
Zhaopin assesses that this return flow is driven by Chinese government policies that support new industries and increased investment in advanced technology sectors. In addition, China’s economic growth is considered capable of offering attractive career opportunities for overseas graduates.
The Director of the 21st Century Education Research Institute, Xiong Bingqi, said that the trend of accelerating the return of Chinese graduates from abroad has actually been ongoing in the long term.
According to him, studying abroad is no longer something exclusive to the elite, so more and more Chinese students can receive international education.
However, limited job opportunities abroad have led many graduates to choose to return to China. He said that the improving domestic economy and the increasing number of job opportunities are also a strong magnet for these graduates to return home.