Priorities of the Chinese youth in the professional field and the position of young specialists in the labor market of China

The article is based on the data of a number of empirical sociological studies, conducted during recent years on the representative samples of Beijing students and China youth. It outlines the key trends in changing values and expectations of the Chinese youth in the professional field and their assessments of job prospects in the short and long terms. Noting the contradictory nature of youth identity, the authors show the objective and subjective factors determining the high level of uncertainty of the position of Chinese universities’ graduates in the labor market, increasing an imbalance between the labor market and the educational system, and defining the behavioral patterns and worldviews of the contemporary China youth. It is noted, that the youth’s socio-economic and political conditions of socialization are fundamentally different from those of their parents’ generations.