Some young people in China are choosing not to advance their careers, choosing instead to continue working as minors in exchange for money or housing bills.
The country is facing an unemployment crisis, and to combat this, parents are paying their children to cook, clean, and do chores instead of getting jobs.
This can involve anything from completing chores and errands to caring for one’s parents.
Some of the major causes of the “full-time children” movement in China include the country’s infamously oppressive 996 culture, which mandates 72-hour workweeks, and the difficulties in finding employment.
According to publications describing the trend, there is no set definition of what constitutes a “full-time child,” and the accompanying pay and obligations differ.
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But living at home while receiving money from one’s parents is more complicated than that; there are tasks involved.
For instance, Julie, a 29-year-old Chinese woman, told the BBC that she looks after her parents full-time by cooking and cleaning.
She told the publication that while her parents did offer to pay for some of her living expenses, she turned them down.
According to Julie, who claims to be recovering from burnout, she worked 16 hours per day at her previous job, which left her feeling like a “walking corpse.”
Jia Zhang also embraced the idea of being a full-time child, NBC News reported, and receives a monthly payment from her parents.
She quit her job running a small business due to financial hardships from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the report, and now works for her parents.
