Non-local graduates at Beijing universities should not be discriminated against because of household registration when hunting for jobs, says an article in China Economic Times. An excerpt follows:

Upon graduation, hukou, or household registration, has once again become a frequently cited word among graduates in Beijing. Many students' jobs are still not firmly offered, because most potential employers are unable to give them a Beijing hukou.

"Students with a Beijing hukou only" has become a requirement in this year's recruitment tests for civil servants at some central government agencies and agencies in the Beijing municipality. Many top students are prevented from getting such a job simply because they are not from Beijing.

Students are complaining about this overt discrimination in employment policy, but the outcry has not stopped the hukou restriction from being a common practice in Beijing's job market.

Under these circumstances, graduates in the capital city who are not from Beijing have less and less jobs to choose from. Female graduates have even more difficulty as they are often discriminated against also because of their gender.

Many choose to go back to their hometown even though the working environment is not as vibrant and competitive as in Beijing.

Employers often say that students with a Beijing hukou usually have more credibility and are better developed in other ways in addition to their academic achievements.

The hukou system has brought problems to non-local graduates in Beijing, and also to the city's migrant workers.

Although we cannot just suddenly halt this system, which has been around for decades, we can at least make some changes so we can guarantee that people, no matter where they were born, can be treated the same across the country.

(China Daily May 9, 2005)