Young Chinese People Are Paying for Pretend Jobs

Nobody wants to work for free, let alone pay for the privilege. But, in China, where unemployment is a massive problem for young people, more and more are waking up, getting dressed, commuting, and clocking into "pretend-to-work offices" where they can convince themselves—or others—that they're gainfully employed. The BBC reports customers pay around 30 to 50 yuan a day for a desk, WiFi, access to meeting rooms, snacks and drinks, and a room filled with "coworkers" who are all there doing the same thing. And while some are admittedly there to deceive someone else into thinking they've got a job, others have far less devious motives.

Customers often include recent college graduates who just need an authentic setting to stage photos to prove "internships" to their schools or get on a video call with their parents. But these pretend offices, springing up in major cities like Shanghai and Wuhan, also draw freelancers who crave routine, job seekers in need of a professional setting to be productive, and digital nomads just looking for a social environment. Anthropologist Biao Xiang said it springs from a "sense of frustration and powerlessness" over scarce opportunities. Management lecturer Christian Yao believes it's a bridge for the patrons "to think about their next steps, or to do odd jobs as a transition."

The man behind one of these companies called Pretend To Work—a 30-year-old who goes by the pseudonym Feiyu—said his own experience with unemployment during the pandemic played a role in his decision to launch his new endeavor. "I was very depressed and a bit self-destructive," he said. So when he started advertising Pretend To Work in April of this year, he saw it as providing an important service. "What I'm selling isn't a workstation, but the dignity of not being a useless person," he said. Within a month, all the workstations were full. And as for the ethics of it all, Feiyu said he considers it more of a "social experiement" than a business. "It uses lies to maintain respectability, but it allows some people to find the truth."