Graduates find jobs in cremation

Education background is not the only deciding factor in finding suitable jobs

Reports that three graduates from well-known universities have been hired as cremation workers at a government funeral center have ignited a fierce online debate about whether it is a waste of education.

A recent job list published by the civil affairs bureau in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, showed that three college graduates had been hired by the city's funeral and interment service center to cremate corpses.

One candidate has a master's degree in philosophy from Chinese University of Hong Kong, while the other two hold bachelor's degrees from South China University of Technology and Guangdong University of Technology.

As the center is a government institution, the job is a permanent position, which college graduates have sought out in recent years due to the tough job market. The job also involves carrying corpses and working night shift.

An official from the Guangzhou civil affairs bureau told local media that anyone with a higher education degree can apply for the job.

The news has become a hot topic on social media, with many netizens saying that it is appropriate for someone with a degree in philosophy to work in a death-related industry.

A vocational skills standard issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs and Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in 2021 says cremation workers need to deal with the corpses and remains of people and the ashes from their bones.

According to a report by Workers' Daily last month, an all-female cremation team was set up at the Beijing Babaoshan Funeral Home in early 2022. The team has five members, with an average age of 27.

College graduates working at "not-so-decent" jobs has made headlines in recent years.

In July, two graduates were hired by a district in Guangzhou to work as garbage sorting workers.

The continued popularization of higher education in China has led to a steady rise in the number of college graduates in recent years.

China is expected to have 11.79 million college graduates this year, up 210,000 from last year, according to the Ministry of Education.

Yu Hui, an associate professor of education at South China Normal University, said that with the number of college graduates increasing, the requirements for an employee's education background have risen.

The funeral industry is not an inferior one and people graduating from reputable universities working in the industry should not be news, he told Southern Metropolis Daily.

Education background is not the only determining factor for graduates to find suitable jobs and they need to improve their knowledge and ability in different sectors, he added.