国政协十一届三次会议召开前夕，政协委员聚焦2009年网络年度“民生热词”，“蚁族”便是其中之一。一些政协委员指出，“蚁族”现象折射我国严峻的就业形势，特别是大学生“就业难”引起社会的普遍关注。

“蚁族”构成中，有城市待业青年，也有农民工，但最受关注的是未就业或低收入的大学毕业生。

The ant tribe, they were born in the 1980s and now live in the underdeveloped suburbs of major cities. The majority come from other areas, particularly the countryside, and they are mostly young graduates who started their college life in 1999, when Chinese universities increased their enrollment dramatically. They don't have a stable job and their average salary is below 2,000 yuan. They are the 'ants', according to Lian Si, a post-doctoral fellow at Peking University who coined the phrase "ant tribe" and wrote a book on it. Indeed, they share every similarity with "ants": living in "colonies" in cramped area, intelligent, hardworking, yet anonymous and underpaid.

“蚁族”，指1999年大学扩招后涌入高校接受过高等教育的毕业生，大部分属于“80后”一代，他们主要聚居于大城市城乡结合部或近郊农村，而其中大多来自农村和县级市，平均月收入低于两千元。北京大学博士后廉思在那本名为《蚁族》的书中首次提出“蚁族”这个说法。这个群体和蚂蚁有许多相类似的特点：群居、高智、勤奋，同时又无名无利。