China population: re-employment of elderly an ‘urgent, realistic problem to be solved’
- Economic Daily newspaper calls on authorities to encourage more people aged over 60 to work again as China struggles with a shrinking and ageing population
- China had just over 280 million people aged over 60, accounting for 19.8 per cent of the population
China’s state media has raised the tone of its drive to encourage more retirees to re-join the workforce by calling for investment in vocational training and improved regulations for elderly employment, as the country struggles with a shrinking and ageing population.
The state-run Economic Daily on Monday called on authorities to encourage more people aged over 60 to work again, as “the re-employment of the elderly has become an urgent and realistic problem to be solved”.
It echoed the sentiments of the People’s Daily last week, which called China’s 137 million healthy and relatively young senior citizens a “new dividend to be developed”.
“As our population ages, many sectors require the elderly to continue to play a role and they also have the desire to continue working … by promoting a positive view towards ageing and improving society’s awareness of the ageing population, we can create a positive atmosphere for the re-employment of the elderly,” Zhao Biqian, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Labour and Social Security, told the Economic Daily.
Zhao pointed to countries with ageing populations, like Japan and France, which established universities for senior citizens, offered incentives to companies hiring people over the age of 70 and have community services to help elderly people find jobs.