What Is a College Degree Worth in China.docVIP

What Is a College Degree Worth in China? Introduction Agence France-Presse -- Getty Images A job fair for college graduates in Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province, in October. While Chinas economy keeps growing at a rapid pace, the dim employment prospects of many of its college graduates pose a potential economic problem. According to recent statistics, the average Chinese college graduate makes only 300 yuan, or about $44, more a month than the average Chinese migrant worker. In recent years, the wages of college graduates have remained steady at about 1,500 yuan a month. Migrant workers wages, however, have risen to 1,200 yuan. Related Room for Debate: Educated and Fearing the Future in China If Chinas graduates are unable to capitalize on their costly investment in education, then is it worthwhile for students to obtain a college degree? What does the imbalance say about Chinas education system and its economy in general? Reform the Private Sector Updated December 4, 2010, 12:15 AM Yasheng Huang is professor of international management at Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is the author of “Capitalism With Chinese Characteristics.” The expansion of Chinas higher education system has frequently been mentioned in connection to the lackluster（无光泽的，无生气的） earnings of its college graduates. But the supply-side explanation is at best incomplete and at worst misleading. In 1998, China enrolled about one million college students; in 2008 this figure was more than six million. The supply-side explanation assumes that the 1998 enrollment number was just right and that subsequent expansion outpaced the needs of the Chinese economy. Most knowledge production takes place in research institutes, which require very few workers, rather than in companies, which would absorb many graduates. The more important part of the story lies on the demand side. Despite all the hoopla （大吹大擂的宣传）that foreign analysts have heaped on China’s grow