國政協十一屆三次會議召開前夕，政協委員聚焦2009年網絡年度“民生熱詞”，“蟻族”便是其中之一。一些政協委員指出，“蟻族”現象折射我國嚴峻的就業形勢，特別是大學生“就業難”引起社會的普遍關注。

“蟻族”構成中，有城市待業青年，也有農民工，但最受關注的是未就業或低收入的大學畢業生。

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.

“蟻族”，指1999年大學擴招后涌入高校接受過高等教育的畢業生，大部分屬于“80后”一代，他們主要聚居于大城市城鄉結合部或近郊農村，而其中大多來自農村和縣級市，平均月收入低于兩千元。北京大學博士后廉思在那本名為《蟻族》的書中首次提出“蟻族”這個說法。這個群體和螞蟻有許多相類似的特點：群居、高智、勤奮，同時又無名無利。