Fewer students will go into further education in China this year, according to the government.

That is according to the Asian superpower's minister of education Zhou Ji, who forecast that the number of applicants would fall by 0.5 million to ten million in 2009, China Daily reported.

The college entrance exam is traditionally seen as a pivotal moment in many young Chinese people's lives; however, this view has been tempered in recent times as employment opportunities after education look bleak.

Speaking to the newspaper, an anonymous source from the Beijing Institute of Technology said: "Since the financial crisis last year, the grim employment situation has broken the 'employment myth' for those with a college degree."

Around 12 per cent of 2008's graduates have yet to find a job, according to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, which is a figure that is set to increase as this year's 6.1 million university-leavers enter the labor market.