Young adults across China are paying daily fees to enter mock office spaces, reflecting wider challenges in the nation’s faltering job market.
As China grapples with persistently high youth unemployment, now exceeding 14%, a peculiar new trend has emerged among young adults: paying to spend time in simulated office environments designed to mimic real workplaces. These “pretend work” spaces, appearing in cities from Dongguan to Shanghai, provide unemployed individuals a setting to combat idleness, maintain a daily routine, and sometimes even fulfil internship documentation requirements. This phenomenon highlights broader economic and social pressures facing China’s younger generations amid the nation’s ongoing economic transition.
The Rise of ‘Pretend Work’ Offices Across China
Across major urban centres including Shenzhen, Shanghai, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chengdu, and Kunming, businesses offering pay-to-workspaces have rapidly expanded over the past year. For a daily fee typically ranging from 30 to 50 yuan ($4–7), customers gain access to fully equipped office settings complete with computers, internet access, meeting rooms, and refreshments such as lunch or snacks.
One such enterprise, the “Pretend To Work Company” in Dongguan 114 kilometres north of Hong Kong operates a co-working style environment where unemployed adults spend entire days engaged in activities designed to simulate office work. Shui Zhou, 30, a former food business entrepreneur whose venture failed in 2024, has been paying 30 yuan daily since April to attend this mock office. “I feel very happy,” he told BBC News Chinese. “It’s like we’re working together as a group.”
In this space, Zhou shares the environment with five other attendees, balancing bursts of focused job hunting or personal projects with social interaction. “When someone is busy they work hard, but when they have free time they chat, joke, and play games,” he said. Evening meals together create a sense of camaraderie. “I’m much happier than before I joined.”
Economic Pressure and Social Context
China’s labour market has faced sustained pressure, with youth unemployment stubbornly elevated despite robust government messaging on economic recovery. The National Bureau of Statistics recently reported that the urban youth unemployment rate (aged 16-24) stood above 14% for several months running in 2025 the highest since comparable data collection began.
Dr Christian Yao, a senior lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington’s School of Management and expert on the Chinese economy, explains: “The phenomenon of pretending to work is now very common. Due to economic transformation and a mismatch between education and available jobs, young people need transitional spaces to reassess or take on odd jobs.” He described pretend office companies as “one of the transitional solutions.”
Economic shifts including greater automation, structural changes moving away from traditional manufacturing, and slower domestic consumption have left many recent graduates and young job seekers facing prolonged job searches. According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, nearly 10 million university graduates entered China’s job market last year, exacerbating competition for available roles.
Pretending as a Coping Strategy
The social implications of this trend extend beyond economic hardship. Dr Biao Xiang, director of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Germany, attributes the rise of pretend work to a “sense of frustration and powerlessness” among young people confronting scarce opportunities. “Pretending to work is a shell young people create for themselves, giving a slight distance from mainstream society and a little breathing room,” Xiang said.
In cities like Shanghai, the demand extends into the education system. Xiaowen Tang, 23, who graduated from university last year, rented a pretend workspace to fulfil her university’s unwritten internship requirement, which demands signed employment contracts within a year of graduation to receive diplomas. “If you’re going to fake it, just fake it to the end,” she said candidly. Tang used the space to write online novels and earn pocket money, while submitting photos from the office as evidence to her institution.
Behind the Business: The Human Element
The founder of Dongguan’s Pretend To Work Company, who goes by the pseudonym Feiyu, launched the service in April 2025. Like many of his clients, Feiyu is a 30-year-old entrepreneur who previously faced unemployment after his retail business folded during the COVID-19 pandemic. “I was very depressed and a bit self-destructive,” he recalled. “You want to turn the tide but feel powerless.”
What Feiyu sells, he says, “isn’t a workstation but the dignity of not being a useless person.” Within a month of launching, his workstations were fully occupied, with applicants waiting for vacancies. Around 40% of clients are recent graduates seeking to validate their internship status for universities; the remaining 60% are freelancers, digital nomads, and self-employed creatives, averaging around 30 years of age.
Officially, these patrons fall under China’s category of “flexible employment professionals,” a group that includes gig economy workers such as ride-hailing drivers and couriers.
Societal Implications and Future Outlook
Despite its popularity, Feiyu acknowledges that the long-term profitability of such businesses is uncertain. He frames his company as a social experiment, stating: “It uses lies to maintain respectability, but it allows some people to find the truth. If we only help users prolong their acting skills, we are complicit in a gentle deception. Only by helping them transform their fake workplace into a real starting point can this social experiment truly live up to its promise.”
For Shui Zhou, who recently shifted focus to acquiring artificial intelligence (AI) skills a capability increasingly sought by employers mock workplaces represent a stepping stone toward genuine employment. “Some companies specify proficiency in AI tools when recruiting,” he explained. “I think gaining such skills will make it easier to find a full-time job.”
The growth of pretend work spaces signals a deeper malaise within China’s youth labour market but also the resilience of a generation navigating uncertainty through novel coping mechanisms. As China continues its economic transformation, addressing the mismatch between education, skills, and employment opportunities remains a pressing challenge for policymakers.
Background: China’s Economic and Employment Landscape
Since slowing growth started to surface post-pandemic, China’s economy has shifted focus toward quality over quantity, accelerating technology adoption and environmental initiatives. This transition, while necessary, has resulted in industrial restructuring that displaces certain labour segments.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), China’s rising youth unemployment contrasts with global trends of gradual employment recovery, underscoring the scale of domestic challenges. Government programs have sought to bolster entrepreneurship and digital skills training, but the pace of job creation has yet to match demand.
Conclusion
The emergence of paid “pretend work” offices reflects a novel and poignant response to China’s youth unemployment crisis. By providing structure, social connection, and a semblance of professional identity, these spaces offer temporary relief to a generation caught between economic realities and personal aspirations. However, experts agree that sustainable solutions require systemic reforms to reconcile education outcomes with labour market needs, support entrepreneurial ventures, and expand genuine employment opportunities.
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