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Mandy Zuo

Janice Chen used to be a mid-level employee at a multinational company in Shanghai until she was laid off in the summer of 2020 due to an economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Searching for work for over a year, she could not find a job until a few months ago, at a much smaller domestic company.
Chen is 40 years old, and she said her age was one of the biggest obstacles she had to overcome during the hiring process.
“I was prepared that it could be hard, but since I am not having any more kids and have good work experience, I thought job seeking for me might not be so difficult. But I was wrong,” said the woman.
“In several interviews, I was asked the same question, ‘why don’t you choose to be a housewife at this age?’”
The country kicked off its push for delayed retirement with an experimental scheme in Jiangsu province from the start of the month, allowing employees to postpone retirement by at least one year if they volunteer and obtain the employers’ consent.

The official retirement age is 60 for most men, 55 for white-collar women and 50 for blue-collar women, relatively younger than most major economies.
While more older people are encouraged to remain in the workforce, many job advertisements in the private and public sectors say they will not hire anyone older than 35.
Applications for civil servant positions, which are sought-after jobs, are only open for people under the age of 35, according to official government recruitment policies.
Jennifer Feng, chief human resources officer at leading job-hunting company 51job.com, said, overall, older workers are facing growing challenges in finding work, especially in the post-pandemic era.
“We have to acknowledge that, amid the pandemic, talent requirements from employers include more online skills, which is favourable to younger workers,” she said.
“In the past year we saw that most of the people laid off in major IT companies were older employees. Employers are more willing to hire young people who are more tech-savvy, cost less, and have more potential,” she said.


Jiang Shengnan, a delegate to the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s top legislative body that began its annual session in Beijing on March 5, said the first step to rectifying ageism is to ban the maximum age cap for government staff recruitment.
“Being 35 is to be in the golden age for employment. To cancel the age limit in civil servant exams will send a message to businesses and individuals that age discrimination should not exist in the workplace,” she wrote in her proposal to the NPC.
“It will also have a significant influence on people’s mentality and choices of marriage, childbirth and retirement.”
Professor Zheng Bingwen, who directs the Centre for International Social Security Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, echoed Jiang’s call, saying:
“This age cap should not be imposed, especially in government agencies. They are established for the public interest, and they use taxpayers’ money. The government should take the lead in changing society’s perceptions,” he said.
China’s population up less than half a million in 2021, births plunge again as crisis deepens
Chen, the laid-off employee in Shanghai, believes the best way to get around the prejudices may be to prepare another way to make money as early as possible.
“Maybe get ready for ‘flexible employment’, as the authorities put it, such as video-making and ride-hailing,” she said.
While age discrimination is a global contentious issue, it is not illegal in China, despite a looming demographic crisis as more people reach retirement age and the country’s birth rate has fallen off a cliff.
The average age of a Chinese worker, defined as someone between the ages of 15 and 59, was 38.8 years old in 2019, which was more than six years older than it was in 1985, according to a 2021 report by the Central University of Finance and Economics in Beijing.
The trend does not appear as if it will reverse soon, as the Chinese government reported 10.62 million births in 2021, continuing a years-long decline in birth rate, a trend that compounds the problem of the rapidly ageing population.


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Ageing society

China wants its people to work longer, but people over 35 cannot get hired

China is trialling policies that will allow people to work beyond their official retirement age. Photo: AFP

Age discrimination in China can make it difficult for people older than 35 to find work if they get fired. Photo: Xinhua

China population: new five-year plan vows to tackle ‘insufficient’ elderly care as ageing crisis worsens

Chinese health authorities say elderly care facilities need to be improved to support the nation’s fast ageing population. Photo: Simon Song

Chinese health authorities say elderly care facilities need to be improved to support the nation’s fast ageing population. Photo: Getty Images


CREDIT: Getty Images

Hong Kong births sink to lowest in 56 years, experts predict dire impact on ageing society as kindergartens close

The number of births in Hong Kong fell below 40,000 for the first time in more than five decades. Photo: Dickson Lee

The early education sector is already feeling the effects of the decline in birth rate, with seven kindergartens closing by the end of the current academic year. Photo: Felix Wong

The prolonged pandemic has also discouraged Hongkongers from having babies, according to a population expert. Photo: Winson Wong

China population: Beijing pledges support for empty nesters as ageing crisis gathers speed

China is placing more focus on elderly care as its population rapidly ages. Photo: AFP

China is placing more focus on elderly care as its population rapidly ages. Photo: Reuters

In South Korea, AI phone calls check up on lonely seniors in a country ageing faster than Japan

Elderly residents in the Guro district of Seoul, South Korea. The country is ageing faster than Japan. Photo: Bloomberg

Yang Sun-im rarely leaves her home due to her back pain and lack of friends or family. Photo: David Lee

Yang Sun-im’s eyes light up as she takes a call from Clova CareCall at her home in Haeundae, Busan. Photo: David Lee

Naver’s headquarters just outside of Seoul. Photo: David Lee

Reporter David D. Lee speaks to Clova CareCall at Naver’s headquarters.

China’s shrinking, ageing population should drive its transition into a digital economy

An elderly man carries a young boy at a park in Beijing on February 9, 2021. Births fell in China for the fifth year in a row in 2021, adding to fears that country will soon be left with a reduced and overburdened working-age population. Photo: AP

News

People & Culture

Social Welfare


Even civil service jobs have an official age cap of 35 for new recruits
A new proposal at this year’s upcoming ‘two sessions’ suggests that the government end age limits for new recruits



Despite China trialing a scheme to allow people to work beyond their official retirement age, 60 for men and 55 for women, many workers over 35 are already finding it difficult to get work.


China's ageing population

Chinese work culture

China wants its people to work longer, but people over 35 cannot get hired

Even civil service jobs have an official age cap of 35 for new recruits A new proposal at this year’s upcoming ‘two sessions’ suggests that the government end age limits for new recruits

Even civil service jobs have an official age cap of 35 for new recruits

A new proposal at this year’s upcoming ‘two sessions’ suggests that the government end age limits for new recruits