Economics

Beijing Wants Young Chinese Workers to Love Capitalism Again

Their new distaste for private-sector jobs has caught the attention of the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

The Pudong’s Lujiazui Financial District in Shanghai, China — The Pudong’s Lujiazui Financial District in Shanghai, China
Photographer: Qilai Shen/Bloomberg

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By Michael Sasso and Stephanie Flanders

July 14, 2022 at 8:00 AM UTC

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Dispirited by pandemic lockdowns and a massive real estate crisis, today’s young Chinese workers are dreaming less about becoming super-rich entrepreneurs and more about the workaday lives of bureaucrats. Their new distaste for private-sector jobs has caught the attention of the ruling Chinese Communist Party, which is trying to change opinions and recruit for private-sector manufacturing jobs that are going begging.