And 'Manglement' pretends to pay you

>Zonghua is Cantonese and prefers not to give her real name. Tired of traveling and the pressures of the financial world, she resigned from her position in the spring of 2024, she tells this newspaper via a local social media platform. “I was looking for a more stable life,” she writes. But she doesn’t dare tell her family the truth. At first, she went to libraries, but for the past few months, she has been paying a monthly fee of 400 yuan ($55) for a comfortable space to spend the day; it’s much cheaper than spending hours in a cafe. Zonghua doesn’t know how much longer this situation will last, as, for now, she’s not having any “success” with her applications.

Is this largely about dealing with social pressures to get a job / appearing unemployed?

The scale of theater here seems high, but I've certainly heard of folks in the US hiding from social pressures when they've lost a job in similar, although less elaborate ways.

It is interesting that these occur in working offices, I would assume most companies in the US would consider that a distraction or even security issues.

So it's like a co-working space but you don't have a job. Part seems to be social pressure but perhaps it's useful to start/keep a routine when applying for jobs, too. Also, opportunities may present themselves when in such a shared space (although it seems less likely if all desks are rented out to job seekers)

Seems more financially sensible to get a job and pretend to work there.