Like a rising number of her highly educated peers, Liang keeps trading down to try and find a source of income in China's worst youth job market on record. "Finding a job has been really difficult," said the 25-year-old, who lives with her parents in the northern industrial city of Taiyuan. "I told my family that I'm willing to take up manual labor and my mum straight-up cried. She felt so sorry for me." Economists expect such examples to become increasingly common in coming years, as a glut of university graduates and a shortage of factory labor due to an aging workforce deepen China's job market imbalances. Youth unemployment hit a record 20.4% in April, and a new high of 11.58 million university students are due to graduate this summer. All are competing for jobs in what remains one of the world's fastest-growing major economies, but whose manufacturing-heavy structure is increasingly out of step with the aspirations of its younger generations. The industries most … [Read more...] about Chinese graduates lower their ambitions in moribund jobs market
High ambition coalition members
Raffles Family Office bolsters private equity focus in Southeast Asia
Raffles Family Office, an award-winning multifamily office with a full suite of wealth management services for ultra-high-net-worth individuals headquartered in Hong Kong and Singapore, is intensifying its commitment to private equity (PE) transactions within Southeast Asia, leveraging this approach as a means of bolstering its portfolio diversification. This strategic move is partly driven by ongoing geopolitical tensions and regulatory risks emanating from China, further compounded by concerns surrounding rising interest rates, inflation, and the spectre of recession. According to Dealstreetasia , Raffles Family Office has allocated between 10-15 per cent of its considerable assets under management specifically for investments in the PE realm, as revealed by Jo Huang, the firm's head of Private Equity. Huang emphasised the value of geographical and sectoral flexibility as a risk mitigation measure for the company's investment undertakings, expressing a desire to expand its … [Read more...] about Raffles Family Office bolsters private equity focus in Southeast Asia
Vietnam’s participation in 42nd ASEAN Summit to contribute to association’s success
The summit is one of the large-scale official multilateral foreign affairs activities that Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh attends in 2023. The participation of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the Vietnamese delegation in the 42nd ASEAN Summit not only demonstrates the country's support for Indonesia in its role as ASEAN Chair 2023, but also actively actualizes foreign policies and guidelines on "continuing to promote and enhance the effectiveness of foreign affairs and international integration" set by the 13th National Party Congress. The 42nd ASEAN Summit is the first official meeting since Indonesia undertook the role as ASEAN Chair 2023. It takes place in the context that the regional and international situations are developing complicatedly with many potential risks. Strategic competition among major countries tends to increase. Although the world economy has shown signs of recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic, the overall growth rate is still low and precarious. Over the … [Read more...] about Vietnam’s participation in 42nd ASEAN Summit to contribute to association’s success
New Zealand and Vietnam offering trade solutions
Vangelis Vitalis - New Zealand’s Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade What was achieved at the eighth meeting of the Vietnam-New Zealand Economic and Trade Committee? Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Phan Thi Thang and I focused on practical things that will benefit our businesses, and also benefit New Zealanders and Vietnamese on both sides, because of the way in which we can support trade flows. We discussed some of the customs procedures on both sides that would make it easier for our companies to export to one another. We also discussed the need to have electronic certification and to set up a process by which we could audit each other’s horticulture sectors, which our two leaders say are essential. For example, when they agreed on the export of Vietnamese limes and pomelo to New Zealand, we were able to send squash and strawberries to Vietnam. Besides that, we agreed to increase work together to find ways to facilitate more of this kind of … [Read more...] about New Zealand and Vietnam offering trade solutions