人浮于事

人浮於事
rénfúyúshì
idiom

Meanings

  1. 1 more hands than needed
  2. 2 overstaffed; too many people for too little work

Examples

Zhège bùmén rénfúyúshì, xiàolǜ dīxià.
This department is overstaffed and its efficiency is poor.
Gǎigé de mùdì zhī yī shì jiějué rénfúyúshì de wèntí.
One aim of the reform is to fix the problem of having more workers than work.

Tips

history
From 《礼记·》: a gentleman would rather his salary fall short of his work than his work fall short of his salary. "" ("people outweigh their rations") was later recast as 人浮于事 — people outweighing their jobs.
mistakes
The here means "to exceed; to outstrip", not "to float". Think "surplus" not "buoyant".

Stroke Order

rén
shì