Development and validation of future employment anxiety scale in China

In light of the evolving labor market and rising uncertainties, Chinese college students are experiencing increasing worries about their future employment. Existing scales often fall short in capturing the anticipatory and multifaceted nature of this anxiety. Thus, a context-specific and culturally appropriate measurement tool is urgently needed. This study presents the development and empirical evaluation of the Future Employment Anxiety Scale designed to assess anticipatory employment-related anxiety among Chinese college students. A total of 1,597 students participated in this study. The Future Employment Anxiety Scale was developed through qualitative interviews and item generation, followed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to establish and confirm its correlated four-factor structure, including Personal Ability, Knowledge Application, Career Replaceability, and Social Relations. The scale showed strong reliability, construct validity, convergent validity, discriminant validity, concurrent validity and measurement invariance across gender and birthplace, confirming its suitability for assessing employment anxiety in Chinese college students. These findings underscore the utility of the scale in capturing employment anxiety, providing valuable insights for both academic research and applied settings, such as career counseling and educational policy.