Graduates of China's expanded university system are increasingly facing difficulty finding work.
Many have started to look for jobs that might have been considered beneath them. Others opt to stay on at university, hoping postgraduate education will give them the edge they need.
Employment organisations have been surprised at the number of graduates attending job fairs intended to provide positions for laid-off labourers and other workers.
At Wuhan, in Hubei province, the city's Labour Market organised a job fair, with some 4,300 vacancies, to help peasants and migrant workers find work.
The organisers estimated that university graduates constituted one third of the applicants.
Several high schools in Beijing have graduates with doctorate degrees lining up for teaching jobs. One school has received 105 applications from candidates with doctorate degrees, and more than 3,000 from postgraduate degree holders.