Will participating in entrepreneurship competitions enhance college students’ employability? — evidence from Sichuan Province, China

China's economy has been downward since the pandemic. At the same time, the scale of college students' graduation has reached its peak, and the contradiction between employment supply and demand has become increasingly prominent. Since implementing the dual-creation strategy, significant universities have generally emphasized the implementation of entrepreneurship education, and entrepreneurship competitions have become an essential part of quality education for college students. Against this background, the article explores whether participating in entrepreneurship competitions positively impacts the employability of Chinese college students, with employability operationalized as self-perceived employability. The article is based on 3,595 micro college students' research data in Sichuan Province, using Propensity Score Matching to conduct a quantitative study. The study finds that participation in entrepreneurship competitions has a significant positive effect on improving the employability of university students. The higher the level of the school, the less critical the impact of entrepreneurship competitions on enhancing employability. Participation in entrepreneurship competitions has a more significant effect on promoting employability in the female student population. Colleges and universities should actively guide college students to participate in entrepreneurship competitions to enhance their employability, encourage the construction of platforms for entrepreneurship competitions, ensure the quality and quantity of entrepreneurship competition projects, and strengthen differentiated support.