Chine : Tout le monde veut devenir riche. Des millions de jeunes se ruent vers les Live shopping

Where is it? So noisy and rogue. We are in a busy live streaming in Zhengzhou, China. While millions of young people are facing a record unemployment rate of more than 21%, they are turning to selling goods or services live on platforms such as Tmall of Alibaba, Taobao or Douyin of ByteDance. However, the official estimate of an unemployment rate of young people of 21% is probably below reality. A survey conducted in July 2023 among more than 10,000 young people on the Sina Weibo social media platform revealed that more than 60% of them said they were overwhelmed by the idea of ​​becoming web celebrities or live streamers. According to E-Research Consulting Group, a Chinese company of market research and advice, the live streaming industry in China employed 1.23 million presenters in 2020. But, a boom in live streaming sales during the pandemic helped the industry to generate a turnover of $ 480 billion in the country last year. To facilitate professionalization and growing competition in the live streaming sector, many agencies have emerged to train young presenters and put them in touch with brands. This has also led to the multiplication of live streamers. Look, the whole street is full of live streamers. Look, this is the production base of live streamers in the county of Kangyang, in Wenzhou. I didn't expect to see so many streamers. The street is crowded. There is one every few steps. No one works anymore. The physical stores should all close soon. How many young people have been lazy and lost their way because of the Internet? They all want to get things without working. You see that there is almost no one in the streets now. We all want to become web stars. There are not even beggars, maybe they also went online and became live beggars. So this is what we call the street of live streamers. What do you think? I find it scary. Many businesses have closed their doors and young people are heading towards the streaming industry. On August 15, 2023, the National Bureau of Statistics announced that the unemployment rate of young people and other age groups would be suspended. The main reason would be that the economy and society are developing and changing constantly. That the work of statistics must be continually improved. In addition, the statistics of surveys on the active population must also be optimized. It is estimated that in China, 80% of new university graduates are currently facing unemployment. Many people have hypothesized that these disastrous data, which reflect the real economic situation of China, are the reason why the government has ceased to publish them. At the same time, due to the low level of investment necessary in the streaming industry, because we can start broadcasting live with only a mobile phone, many young people dream of becoming a web celebrity. This job has become a large-scale industry, hence the existence of a live streamer street. In the city of Guilin, there is a bridge that is full of live streamers at night, from 7 p.m. to midnight every night. They are everywhere. They use the same type of lighting and camera support. Sometimes, there are even red carpets specially designed for them. It has become a large-scale established industry. So why are young people so attracted to the streaming industry? One of the main reasons is that they generally only see examples of success. For example, just a few months after starting his career full-time as a live streaming animator, Zhang Xinyu, a former model and blogger, head of a fashion management master's degree, had already done hundreds of hours of antennas and worked with luxury brands such as YSL Beauté. A day in the life of a live shopping animator, like Zhang, can include more than six hours of conversation, almost non-stop, with his audience, not to mention the time spent getting ready, putting on makeup and extra hours devoted to debriefing with his team. I like to show myself, I like the camera, I like to express myself. I hope to be able to present myself in front of the camera every day. I used to be a model and a blogger, so I thought that maybe the work of a live streaming animator would be more intuitive. The data from each live stream reflects my abilities, and there will also be a lot of comments and interaction in the streaming room. I appreciate all these factors, that's why I chose this job. I think my attention will be drawn by the best hosts, but that doesn't determine if I buy. Because I think the prices of products are more or less the same from one channel to another. I don't have time to compare if a channel offers 100 lua less than another. On the other hand, there are very interesting live broadcasts with animators who sell merchandise. I even saw live broadcasts to sell products using dance moves, I found it very original. In fact, it is these novelties that will make me order. I think it's very good. But since the 2020 epidemic, the Chinese economy has deteriorated sharply, the unemployment of young people has risen sharply. There have been 1.23 million people who have flowed into the streaming industry live over the past three years. The industry has experienced an explosive growth. A report shows that the scale of online performance markets in China, including the streaming industry and short videos, has reached more than 199 billion yuan in 2022, or nearly 27.3 billion US dollars. The report mentions that the streaming industry has gradually shown a trend among streamers. They have a higher level of education, are younger and show more professionalism. This is indirectly evidenced by the fact that the streaming industry is extremely competitive and has a large number of unemployed young people. This is in line with the hypothesis that the unemployment rate of young people would be much higher than the officially published data. The Chinese government announced on August 15 that it would stop publishing data on the unemployment of urban young people. This decision immediately aroused heated debate. The stories with the hashtag Hashtag The Unemployment Rate of Young People in the Urban Survey will be suspended On Sina Weibo, 210 million readings were accumulated in one day and reached the 5th place on the Hot 100 list at some point. But the subject disappeared before the publication of this video. According to official publications in China, the unemployment rate of young people was 20.4% in April, 20.8% in May and 21.3% in June. The rate has exceeded the threshold of 20% for three consecutive months. The National Bureau of Statistics stated in July that the unemployment rate of young people had reached a peak and was decreasing in August 2023. But unexpectedly, the authorities suddenly stopped disclosing the data. However, not publishing these data cannot hide the fact that the labor market in China is pitiful for young people. I will tell you the true story of a worker in Henan province. A young man, a graduate of a degree, went to work in a factory run by a so-called national entrepreneur. His job was to work on an assembly line. The recruitment announcement indicated that the salary was from 6 to 8 thousand yuan, i.e. 820 to 1100 US dollars, full pension. The duration of the work was 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, according to the labor code. So, this young man stupidly worked while respecting the hours indicated in the announcement. He worked 8 hours a day, with 2 days off on the weekend. However, he was surprised to see his colleague, with whom he shared the same room, do extra hours every day, without taking a break on the weekend. When he received his salary, he realized that his gross salary was only 2360 yuan, i.e. 324 US dollars, the minimum wage in the region. When he inquired about this, he was told that he could only get the minimum wage because he did not do extra hours. Then, 200 yuan were collected for social security and 210 yuan for foreclosure. Even if the announcement stated a full pension, he still had to pay for the restaurant service and accommodation with his own salary. Thus, 200 yuan were charged for accommodation and 300 yuan for meals. This young man wanted to quit. As he did not do extra hours, the company charged him 200 yuan for soil wear, 200 yuan extra for cover wear and 20 yuan per day for protective equipment. So how much would he have left for in the end? After working as a nurse in Japan for 6 years, I earned a total of 1.5 million RMB, i.e. more than 200,000 US dollars. To tell you the truth, my salary is 5 million Japanese yen, i.e. 35,000 US dollars per year. In 6 years, I earned a total of 200,000 US dollars. At the time, I thought that I would work for 3 years and that I would go home as soon as I could afford to buy a house. 6 years have passed and I have saved enough money to buy a property. But why didn't I go back to my country of origin? It's because I don't have a good diploma. I only have a license and I will soon be 30 years old. At my age and my level of study, it is difficult to find a decent job in China. In addition, we all know that the Japanese are simple and disciplined. When your superior gives you instructions, just say yes and do your job properly and that's it. But if I had to go back to China, I would probably not understand a single word from my superior. Because he would have a lot of background and I would not understand any of it. So, if I had to go back to China, I wouldn't have enough emotional support or a sufficient diploma, and I wouldn't know how to survive at work. I'm going to get old and it would be very, very difficult for me to find a job. I struggled for 6 years but I finally decided not to go home. Of course, people asked me if I wanted to stay in Japan for the rest of my life. I can only say that if I was given another chance to choose again, I would always choose to work abroad during my youth. People don't live just for themselves. I hope I can give a hand to my friends when they are in trouble, and I hope I can tell my parents, take the best medicine when they get old and get sick. I don't regret the choices I made 6 years ago. For more UN videos visit www.un.org