1. A MyCOS report reveals that Chinese college graduates are increasingly moving into advanced manufacturing and modern services, while shifting from top-tier to prefecture-level and lower-tier cities [para. 1][para. 3]. Released June 11, the report guides families selecting majors, with employment prospects central [para. 2]. Over five years, shares in electronic, machinery, and transportation equipment manufacturing rose significantly, while IT and finance declined [para. 8]. New business models like online retail and telecoms also grew, with employment demand concentrating in digital technology, high-end equipment, new energy, and health services [para. 10][para. 11]. Among 2025 undergraduates, top industries included education (14.2%), IT services (9.3%), and electronic manufacturing (7.0%); higher vocational graduates saw similar increases in machinery and transportation manufacturing [para. 7][para. 9].
2. Regionally, over 60% of graduates now head to lower-tier cities [para. 12]. The share in major cities fell from 42% to 37%, while the share in lower-tier cities rose to 63% from 58% [para. 13]. This follows industry relocation to smaller cities building clusters in electronics, equipment, and new energy [para. 14]. Average monthly salary for 2025 undergraduates was 6,435 yuan, up 7.7% adjusted for inflation over five years; higher vocational graduates earned 4,882 yuan, up 5.8% [para. 15]. Higher education still delivers a clear income premium [para. 15].
3. The 2026 green-list majors—fields with high employment quality and growing demand—are all engineering: electrical engineering and automation, microelectronics science and engineering (fifth consecutive year), automation (first time), energy and power engineering, vehicle engineering, and new-energy science and engineering [para. 16][para. 17]. The list has shifted from IT toward advanced manufacturing, energy transition, and key technologies; majors like network engineering have dropped off [para. 18][para. 19]. Demand for engineering talent persists due to AI-driven industrial changes, with graduates entering energy, chips, and smart manufacturing [para. 20].
4. Flexible employment (part-time, freelancers, entrepreneurs) expanded over five years, with its digital characteristics strengthening [para. 21]. The undergraduate share rose 2.7 percentage points and higher vocational share rose 3.2 percentage points from the class of 2021 [para. 22]. Postgraduate exam fever cooled: the share of unemployed graduates preparing for exams fell from 5.6% (2023) to 3.4% (2025), consistent with declining national registrations [para. 23]. Satisfaction with higher vocational colleges reached 84%, surpassing undergraduate institutions, reflecting a "skills dividend" from the real economy [para. 24].
5. Job-major relevance differs: 71% of 2025 undergraduates worked in jobs related to their majors, compared to 59% for higher vocational graduates [para. 25]. Entry thresholds vary sharply across fields [para. 25]. Among undergraduate disciplines, medicine had the highest relevance (89% at six months, 91% at five years), followed by history, science, education, and law [para. 26]. Among higher vocational categories, biology and chemical engineering (80%), energy, power and materials (76%), and medicine and health (70%) were top [para. 27].
AI generated, for reference only
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