Unchecked rat race hurting young workers

When some young friends began complaining about neijuan in their workplaces, I was at a loss. I could sense they were unhappy about something, but could not understand what the term neijuan really meant. Literally, "nei" means inside or inward while "juan" means rolling. Too vain to ask and too curious to ignore it, I reached for my Chinese-English dictionary to find out the meaning.

To my utter disappointment, the word neijuan was not to be found in the worn-out dictionary published 30 years ago. It was my son who came to my rescue. He told me that neijuan is an internet slang used by young Chinese to describe fierce but unproductive competition — employees competing against one another or companies locked in exhausting rivalry with others in the same business."So the English synonym of neijuan should be involution or rat race," I said, enlightened by the discovery.

Though the slang neijuan first appeared on the internet less than 10 years ago, the kind of competition it represents has been there for decades in Chinese society.

In fact, neijuan begins even before an individual is born. Expectant parents compete for places in the best hospitals, crowding a handful of elite maternity wards while smaller hospitals remain largely underutilized.

We are told that "well begun is half done" but that is not true in the age of neijuan. When a kid is growing up, his parents make sure that he goes to the best kindergarten, the best primary school, the best high school and the best university. They pour in big money in after-school training sessions to ensure that their kids excel in academics and master some arts skills.

Some parents spent over a million yuan to send their children to study in the United States, Britain or Australia only to find that the investment may not offer the return they expect. Foreign education is no longer considered as valuable as it was some years ago due to the heightened neijuan in the domestic job market. Now, about 10 million university graduates join the job market every year. Though the central and local governments are doing their best to provide jobs for these fresh graduates, well-paid and well-placed positions are hard to find.

When some people are willing — or forced -to accept lower pay, longer working hours and fewer days off to get a job, neijuan becomes unavoidable. The two-day weekend was implemented nationwide way back in 1995, but many of my young friends working for private companies in Beijing still work six days a week. For them, working overtime is normal, and quite often, without any compensation. Complaints are risky and may get one fired. Given the neijuan raging in the job market, there are new job seekers ready to take your place.

Immersed in this neijuan atmosphere, many young people dream of an opportunity to "lie flat". On the internet, songs and memes celebrate this longing for rest and retreat from the rat race. Some netizens say they are envious of the "lying flat" lifestyle in some Western countries. They don't realize that "lying flat" has become one of the biggest headaches for those nations.

Neijuan takes a toll on both the mental and physical health of employees. It is a problem that needs urgent attention. It should not be difficult for labor administrators to check the job contracts being signed by employees and make sure they abide by the regulations. By talking to employees, administrators can discover the tricks that some employers use to squeeze the most out of workers at the least cost.

When the rights of the employees are well protected, the degree of neijuan can come down, thus providing young people with a more friendly and relaxed working environment — without them having to "lie flat".

Though neijuan in workplaces is not desirable, it should not be confused with diligence. It was diligence that helped the country achieve outstanding social and economic progress in the past decades — a transformation I witnessed firsthand and contributed to with pride.

The challenge before us is to encourage the latter and put brakes on the former so that hard work continues to take the nation forward.

The author is former deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily.