China’s army of retirees seek return to work as economic toll on their families mounts
- Mandatory retirement ages in China are among the world’s lowest, and experts say Beijing’s plans to revise the 70-year-old rules cannot come soon enough
- Demographic crisis is poised to result in a long-term decline in China’s rapidly ageing workforce, with the state pension fund at risk of drying up
Two years after Zhao Yanfang’s mandatory retirement from her blue-collar job in the canteen of a state-owned enterprise, the 52-year-old is back to work – this time at a noodle restaurant in Beijing.
On a recent relatively slow day, she tensely taps buttons on a mobile device, inputting orders for patrons who present various coupons acquired through different channels – including the company’s own app, and food-delivery platforms – while reading off the day’s specials for dine-in customers.
“It’s all for the sake of my son,” she says, explaining how the father of her twin grandchildren lost his job during the pandemic. “Were it not for supporting his family, I would never have bothered working after retirement, trying to learn this complicated ordering system.
“I thought my three decades of work experience would be enough for waitressing. I didn’t expect it would be so challenging.”
Zhao is among the millions of China’s retirees who have re-entered the job market or are looking to do so as the financial burden on Chinese families mounts from the government’s disruptive zero-Covid strategy that has crippled business and hammered the economy.
Beijing has also been encouraging retirees to return to work as the rapidly ageing country faces a long-term decline in its workforce.