China's Unemployed Pretend to Work, Drawing 70 Million Views on Social Media

Coco Li, 32, former employee of a Shanghai state‑owned property firm, has been walking into parks, libraries and cafés every weekday since May 2, 2024, pretending to be on the clock. Her routine has spilled into the digital realm, where a single RedNote thread about her 'day‑by‑day hustle' has racked up more than 30 million views, while a Douyin video of her juggling a coffee and a notepad drew 610 million views.

The trend mirrors a broader crisis: factories are slashing payrolls, the property market remains stagnant, and AI‑driven layoffs have cost workers like Zhang, 36, a visual‑effects gig. Zhang recently posted that he found a library full on a weekday, a scene once reserved for salarymen in 1990s Japan.

Meanwhile, 28‑year‑old Susan Sun, whose parents moved to Chongqing, keeps her severance and a mere 1,864 yuan a month in the bank, all while performing the daily dance of appearing employed. She says she is content to live on little and not work, but her parents’ anxiety pushes her to maintain the façade.

The phenomenon has caught the eye of the Ministry of Human Resources; officials are warning that widespread unemployment hoarding could inflate job‑market statistics and derail economic planning.

The next step? A scheduled hearing by the National Development and Reform Commission on June 15, where lawmakers will assess whether new reporting guidelines are needed.