Overview

• Young adults in cities including Shenzhen, Shanghai and Chengdu are renting fully equipped staged office desks to appear employed
• Operators charge 30–50 yuan per day and offer amenities such as computers, snacks, lunch and drinks
• Participants say the spaces improve self-discipline, foster peer interaction and create a focused environment for freelancing or job searches
• Some recent graduates use office photos as proof of employment to satisfy university diploma-verification requirements
• Experts describe the trend as a small-scale transitional coping mechanism that does not address the underlying structural causes of a roughly 14–14.5% youth unemployment rate