This study was situated in the COVID-19 pandemic occurring sporadically in China’s mainland where prevention and control measures were strictly implemented due to health concerns. The ongoing pandemic has engendered tremendous and negative impacts on people’s work and life. In particular, it has given a heavy blow to the national economy, reducing college students’ job opportunities. Against such a backdrop, we adopted a mixed research approach to probe into the employment anxiety among graduating English majors from private universities. Specifically, 375 students participated in the pilot study for testing the validity and reliability of the Employment Anxiety Scale for Graduating Students (EASGS). Then, 987 students took part in the main study and filled in the adapted version of EASGS. Ten students participated in the semi-structured interview. Results showed that these graduating students experienced a high level of employment anxiety induced by insufficient employment support, the pandemic situation, lack of competitiveness and confidence in job hunting, the policy for compulsory education, dissatisfaction with their major, and challenges in role shifting. Moreover, female graduates generally suffered from a significantly higher level of employment anxiety (mainly caused by COVID-19 and fierce competition) than male graduates, but no significant difference in the overall anxiety level was found between students from rural and urban areas. This article ends up with a call for familial, institutional, and governmental attention to the psychological well-being of college graduates to guarantee the sustainable development of individual college students, higher education, and the society at large.

Wang Jian, Zhang Tengyao. Employment Anxiety among Graduating English Majors in China’s Private Universities: A Neglected Landscape during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Academic Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences (2023) Vol. 6, Issue 1: 91-103. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJHSS.2023.060113.

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