假裝通勤：中國失業者如何保住面子

北京／香港，10月20日（路透）—— 一張自煮午餐的照片，差點讓可可・李（Coco Li）的秘密曝光。BEIJING/HONG KONG, Oct 20 (Reuters) - A photo of a home-cooked lunch almost exposed Coco Li's secret.

這名32歲、曾任職於中國一家國有房地產企業的女子，原本正要把照片分享到家庭群組，隨即警覺停手。她的母親可能會問她為什麼不在上班。The 32-year-old, a former employee of a Chinese state-owned property firm, had been about to share it in her family group chat before catching herself. Her mother might ask why she wasn't at work.

李是眾多向親戚隱瞞失業狀態的中國失業者之一。在一個找工作愈來愈困難的就業市場裡，他們擔心失業後往往伴隨而來的關切與壓力。Li is one of many unemployed Chinese hiding their joblessness from relatives, wary of the concern and pressure that often follow in a labour market where finding work has become increasingly difficult.

「她會陷入無止境的焦慮循環，最後再把那份焦慮轉嫁到我身上，」李說。她已在6個多月前離職，理由是工作量大、卻少有肯定。她補充說，母親的關心「其實解決不了我的問題」。"She would fall into an endless cycle of anxiety and eventually pass that anxiety on to me," said Li, who quit more than six months ago, citing high workload and little recognition. Her mother's concern "couldn't really solve my problem," she added.

假裝仍有工作或許能緩解社會壓力PRETENDING TO BE EMPLOYED MAY EASE SOCIAL TENSIONS

從網路互動規模來看，假裝有工作已相當普遍。The scale of online engagement suggests pretending to have a job is widespread.

在類似Instagram的小紅書（RedNote）上，教人白天去哪裡打發時間、如何避開親戚對工作的追問，以及記錄「假裝上班族」經歷的貼文，已吸引超過7,000萬次瀏覽；在中國版TikTok抖音上，相關內容瀏覽量達6.1億次。在類似X的微博上，相關主題標籤最高吸引3.2億次瀏覽。Posts advising where to spend the day, how to dodge relatives' questions about work, and chronicling the experiences of pretend-workers have drawn more than 70 million views on the Instagram-like RedNote app and 610 million views on Douyin, China's TikTok. On X-like Weibo, related hashtags have drawn up to 320 million views.

分析人士表示，這個現象鮮明反映出就業市場轉弱，而中國經濟正愈來愈倚賴強勁出口。週一公布的第三季數據顯示，製造商正透過削價與裁員因應激烈競爭，同時把更沉重的工作量壓到留下來的員工身上。Analysts say the phenomenon is a stark reflection of a weakening job market in an economy increasingly reliant on roaring exports. As Monday's third-quarter data showed, manufacturers are battling fierce competition by slashing prices and payrolls while piling heavier workloads onto remaining staff.

長期的房地產市場危機與地方政府財政緊縮，也與自動化、人工智慧快速導入一同衝擊就業與收入。A prolonged property market crisis and tight local government finances have also hurt jobs and incomes, along with automation and rapid AI adoption.

康乃爾大學中國政治學副教授黛安娜・傅（Diana Fu）表示，假裝去上班能讓人保住面子，也可能化解集體不滿。Diana Fu, an associate professor of Chinese politics at Cornell University, says pretending to go to work allows people to save face and potentially defuse collective discontent.

她說，這有助於在北京持續推動自動化、並在科技競賽中與美國角力之際，維持社會穩定。This helps preserve social stability as Beijing pushes ahead with automation and its tech race against the US, she said.

她說：「假裝上班的人，正在幫助中國政府避免面對一項艱難抉擇：究竟要在自動化上大步向前，還是要保護工作保障，而工作保障對社會契約至關重要。」"Pretend-workers are helping the Chinese government to stave off the hard choice between leaping ahead in automation and protecting job security, which is so essential to the social contract," she said.

在公園、商場、圖書館徘徊LURKING IN PARKS, MALLS, LIBRARIES

多數社群媒體貼文分享如何在白天離家消磨時間的訣竅，在公園、圖書館、咖啡館與購物中心之間遊走。這些場景令人想起1990年代亞洲金融危機期間，南韓與日本上班族隱瞞失業狀態的情形。Most social media posts share tips on how to spend the day away from home, drifting through parks, libraries, cafes and shopping malls, in scenes reminiscent of salarymen who hid their joblessness in South Korea and Japan during the Asian financial crisis in the 1990s.

當父母來訪時，李也會採取類似作息。Li follows similar routines when her parents visit.

「我從來沒想過圖書館在平日會坐得滿滿的，」36歲的張姓女子說。她是一名視覺特效製作人，8月在一波由人工智慧推動的裁員中失去工作。她只提供自己的姓氏。"I never would have believed the library would be completely full on a weekday," said Zhang, 36, a visual effects producer who lost her job in AI-driven redundancies in August. She gave only her surname.

在其他貼文中，使用者猜想身邊的人是否也陷入類似處境，或是像李一樣，說明自己為何要隱瞞，以及這讓他們有何感受。In other posts, users wonder if the people around them are in a similar predicament, or - echoing Li - explain why they hide and how it makes them feel.

有些貼文則是每日紀錄。其中一篇題為「失業第30天：假裝上班一個月」的貼文中，一名使用者敘述自己投了80份履歷都未成功。Some posts are daily journals. In one titled "Day 30 of unemployment: a month pretending to work," a user recounts 80 failed job applications.

28歲的蘇珊・孫（Susan Sun）自去年底被一家網路公司裁員後，就一直隱瞞此事。5月，她的母親與繼父從較小的家鄉搬到大城市重慶與她同住，並在當地找工作，這讓她要維持這種平衡變得更加複雜。Susan Sun, 28, has concealed her layoff from an internet company since late last year. The balancing act became more complicated in May when her mother and stepfather moved in with her in the megacity of Chongqing from their smaller hometown to look for work.

這迫使她必須在上午9點前離家，晚上6點後才回家。This forces her to leave home before 9 a.m. and return after 6 p.m.

孫每月靠1,864元人民幣（278美元）的失業補助，以及剩餘的資遣費生活。她說，自己樂於過著低開銷、不工作的生活。她唯一的壓力來自父母。Sun lives on 1,864 yuan ($278) per month in unemployment benefits and what remains of her severance package. She says she is happy living on little and not working. Her only pressure comes from her parents.

「他們透過細微卻不斷施壓的表情和語氣，把焦慮傳給我，」她說，尤其是在他們勸她要存錢，因為「經濟不好」的時候。"They pass their anxiety on to me, through subtle, insistent expressions and tone of voice," she said, especially when they advise her to save money because "the economy is bad."

紐約州立大學水牛城分校社會學助理教授董一格（Yige Dong）表示，與1990年代的日本和南韓相比，中國的社會安全網相對薄弱，最終可能讓失業者更難持續假裝下去。Yige Dong, an assistant professor of sociology at the University at Buffalo, says China's relatively thin social safety net, compared with those in Japan and South Korea during the 1990s, could eventually make it harder for the unemployed to keep up the pretence.

董一格說，到了某個時候，「個人可能會更在意如何從所有可取得的來源匯集資源，包括向家人與親戚借錢」。At some point, "individuals would probably be more concerned with pooling resources from all available sources, including borrowing from family members and relatives," Dong said.

（1美元＝6.6920元人民幣）($1 = 6.6920 yuan)

（北京高亮平、寧秀媛與香港Marius Zaharia報導；Shri Navaratnam編輯）(Reporting by Liangping Gao and Xiuyuan Ning in Beijing and Marius Zaharia in Hong KongEditing by Shri Navaratnam)