China News Service, Beijing, October 27 (Reporter Yuan Xiuyue) The population of elderly people aged 60 and above will exceed 400 million. This is the latest calculation of the National Health Commission’s elderly population in China around 2035. At that time, China will enter the severe aging stage.
In the next ten years, the post-60s generation will continue to enter a retirement life.
For many young people who advocate FIRE (economic independence, early retirement), retirement means pursuing the beginning of their life. But for many older people who are truly retiring, completely stopping work for a variety of reasons does not seem to be the best choice.
A recent survey showed that 68% of the elderly have strong desire to re-employment after retirement, and 30% of the respondents are under financial pressure. The embarrassment of "I am too young to be idle at home and I am unwilling to ask for many places to find a job" has become a personal trouble for some elderly people.
Data picture: "Rock Grandma" band is being rehearsed. Photo by Lei Yuer
Reasons to continue working
Culture has a work history that surprised many young people. They started working at the age of 22 and were still at work at the age of 79. In his words, "I haven't rested for a day."
He has served as the director of the Comprehensive Institute of Beijing Academy of Agricultural and Forestry Sciences for more than ten years. After retirement, the unit rehired him until 2016. Later, the 73-year-old Culture was invited by the Beijing Metropolitan Planning and Design Institute as a consultant until now.
57 uninterrupted work, culture says that being busy has become his inertia.
Of course, this inertia is also driven by a variety of reasons. Culture has always been more interested in doing research. During his time as a director, he often took three hours to do the topic at night. When he returned to work after retirement, he established three principles according to his own ideas: helping without causing trouble, doing research without managing, and consulting without making decisions.
In his opinion, retired old experts can do something within their ability, which can not only contribute experience and wisdom, but also help their health in their later years. He believes that the brain is like the limbs, the slower it degenerates.
Culture is an empty-nest elderly man with no spouse or children around him. He said that he couldn't stay at home and would feel very lonely when he was free. Perhaps because of this, he has a strong sense of time and has planned everything he does in advance.
Data picture: Elders write calligraphy for home-based elderly care service center in Jinchuan District, Jinchang City, Gansu Province. Photo by Wei Jianjun
53-year-old Zhou Xiaolan can experience this kind of "unable to stay idle". Before retirement, she worked in the community, and others praised her as "good at dealing with people."
The child is in graduate school and her husband is still at work. After retirement, she was unemployed at home alone, which made her bored. "You said you stay at home at the age of 50 and go to the park every day. You're too young. I don't have a hobby of singing and dancing, so I'd just find a place to work." The reasons for continuing to work in
are similar in different ways. Recently, a platform released the "2022 Retirement Reemployment Survey Report for the Elderly Group". The report shows that 46.7% of the elderly return to the job market to seek personal and social value. 19% of job seekers hope to use their skills and continue to pursue career development. 34.3% of job seekers meet higher-level consumer needs by subsidizing household income and increasing income.
57-year-old Chen Liang is one of those 34.3%. When he was young, he worked outside for the sake of his children's schooling for many years. Later, the children started their families and started their own businesses. He did not stop, but instead found a security job in Shanghai.
On the one hand, he couldn't stay idle, but on the other hand, he was still for the sake of his children. He said that young people are under too much pressure now, and he can save more money by earning more himself, which not only subsidizes the household income but also reduces the burden on children. After work, he practices playing tennis every morning and evening, which makes him feel that his life is fulfilling.
"If you can do it, just push the car, just push it." He said.
Data picture: Middle-aged and elderly people participate in basketball competitions. Photo by Yang Bo, China News Service reporter
Competitiveness for reemployment of the elderly
Compared with young people, the elderly face a critical question in reemployment of the elderly: Where is the competitiveness? How many are there?
Some time ago, the China Senior Talent Online was launched and caused heated discussions. A reporter from China News Service interviewed many employers.
Wang Hongchuan, the head of Chunyu Society, the interest learning and exchange platform for middle-aged and elderly people, said that they did not specifically recruit retired elderly people as teachers at the beginning, but during class, they found that many elderly people are not worse than young people, and they even have advantages in many aspects.
For example, the elderly come to teach more out of interest, the teaching quality is higher, and the major is better after years of accumulation. Due to their similar age, they share more languages with their students and communicate more smoothly.
Wang Hongchuan observed that the elderly are not very able to accept long commutes or in other places when looking for jobs, and online work helps them solve this problem.
Data picture: In the day care service station in a community in Baoding, Hebei, the elderly play the erhu together. Photo by Zhao Danmei
Li Zheng, director of Beijing Metropolitan Planning and Design Institute, said that compared with young people, retired experts have certain advantages in knowledge, experience and vision. Moreover, they are more frank when expressing their opinions, without any scruples, and have a certain discernment ability, and can express unique insights. He likes this atmosphere very much and can save a lot of worry at work.
correspondingly, they also have shortcomings such as being more stubborn and showing their sharpness. Li Zheng believes that employers should play a role in encouraging and speaking freely while tolerating and resolving shortcomings, and sometimes they need to act as a "cushion" for the elderly and the external environment.
"Many young people are unwilling to do the work of serving the elderly. Last time someone came to apply for a job and said, 'I can do it with you, but I don't care about wiping the table or eating the elderly'. Why? Because I don't do it at home." He Qiang is the head of Mingxin Community Service Center in Miyun District, Beijing. They have four community elderly care stations, with a total of 20 staff members, and the elderly are the main force.
In recent years, chain companies such as McDonald's and IKEA have also begun to recruit retirees. Some comments and analysis have shown that recruiting retired employees can reduce labor costs. For young people, some service positions with low treatment and little room for promotion are gradually losing their attractiveness.
Data picture: Busy figures shuttle through the vegetable and flower breeding base in the orchard village. Upward Photography
Time gives the elderly experience, patience and higher tolerance, but in the workplace, time means another side. After Zhou Xiaolan retired, she applied for a salesperson in the mall. The other party praised him, "Sister, you are really good." But when she heard that she was over 50 years old, she still refused.
Many employers who recruit retirees also expressed that they would rather hire elderly people who have retired for a short time, such as those who have retired for 5 years or less than 10 years, because they are too old, they should consider health and safety issues.
Ms. Zhou, a human resources manager of an elderly care service company in Beijing, said that their recruitment of elderly people was not very effective. On the one hand, many jobs require the elderly to use computers and smartphones, and some require one-on-one teaching, which is relatively expensive.
"Some elderly people who retire or take care of their children come to apply for the job. They are busy in the morning and evening, and there is a lot of time in between, but what they say is idle is only 4 to 6 hours, which is not enough for employers. In addition, it requires a fixed time per week, so many people cannot satisfy them." Ms. Zhou said.
She mentioned that some elderly people will say that they are good at cutting hair, singing and dancing, etc., but what they are good at is not what the company needs, "the matching of job seekers and companies' needs is not very high."
Data picture: The elderly promote local agricultural products in the live broadcast. Photo by Yang Di
"stumbling block" for the reemployment of the elderly
Every Monday and Thursday morning, the culture will ride a bicycle to the unit, hold meetings or do consultations, bringing back a lot of information each time, and working from home the rest of the time. Before the epidemic, he had to go out for inspection three or five times a year.
The premise of all this is that he has a healthy body. When he was young, he was a basketball player and now he still walks 28,000 steps every night.
"Some young people are not as fast as I go up the stairs." said Culture. But he also pointed out, "How can everyone be like my body? Other old experts, how much work can they do with their physical condition?"
"When I was young, I just lifted my feet and left without considering so many consequences. I can do work now, but you don't want to worry so much anymore." Zhou Xiaolan said.
She also mentioned that their generation had relatively low cultural level, many of them had no skills, and the scope of finding jobs was narrow. Many retired personnel around her worked as cleaning staff, waiters and other jobs that had low physical and mental strength requirements.
Data picture: Villagers are working. Photo by Yao Youliang
China News Network reporter noticed that on the recruitment platform, jobs for the elderly are roughly divided into two categories: one is jobs that have certain requirements for majors and skills, and the other is low-threshold labor-intensive work. Human Resources Service Agency once told the media that the current recruitment for over-age workers is still mainly focused on temporary positions such as service guarantee.
During the work process, since many elderly people have exceeded their retirement age, whether they have formed a labor relationship with the employer is often controversial. When encountering labor infringement or work-related injury accidents, how to protect one's own rights and interests is also a legal risk that the elderly have to pay attention to.
"The technology is developing rapidly now. In rural medicine, drone can be used. Unmanned driving can be achieved through cultivation and harvesting. How many people are willing to use the elderly?" Chen Liang said that it is difficult for young people to find jobs now, and it is not easy for the elderly.
is old, lack of energy, lack of professional skills, and high labor risks... one by one, "stumbling blocks" have to face embarrassing reality - they have the willingness to re-employment, but it is difficult to find a suitable job.
Data picture: "Focus on the balanced nutrition of the elderly, happy and healthy elderly care" charity activity. China News Service Posted by Xie Yunsong
A society with inclusive employment
For many young people, the attempt to re-employment of the elderly is both related to the future and the present. For example, will the elderly steal the "rice bowl" of young people?
Vice President of the Chinese Population Society and Professor of Peking University Lu Jiehua told China News Network reporters that the total employment market is relatively fixed. In addition, due to factors such as the epidemic and economic downturn, on the surface, employment of the elderly will have some conflicts with different generations, but in the long run, employment of the elderly and employment of young people are not a situation of mutual squeezing.
Lu Jiehua said that not all the elderly employment groups are employed. Most of the elderly who are employed are relatively healthy first, second, have the willingness to find employment, third, have skills or can improve their skills through training, fourth, the employment of elderly people is unlikely to be around the clock as before retirement. Many elderly people have flexible employment, and some elderly people are not willing to do the employment industry, and the two will not squeeze each other.
Data picture: Laughing and joy in a nursing home in Wuxi, Jiangsu. Photo by Zhou Xianlan
He pointed out the realistic background of promoting reemployment of the elderly. In the past, my country's employment scale was large and the proportion was high, and it enjoyed a better demographic dividend of . However, with the acceleration of aging, more and more retired people and fewer people working. my country's pensions adopt a "pay-as-you-go" system, and the reduction in the size and proportion of the employed population may affect the sustainability of pensions.
In addition, with the economic development of social and the improvement of public health conditions, the average life expectancy in my country has increased to 77.93 years, which means that the possibility of labor participation of the elderly is increasing.
"WHO once proposed the concept of 'healthy aging', encouraging the elderly to participate in society. Research has found that the elderly who participated are relatively healthy and have relatively good cognition." Lu Jiehua said.
Data picture: Online piano lessons for famous teachers bring joy of life to the "silver-haired people"
Regarding the difficulties faced by the elderly in employment, Lu Jiehua believes that on the one hand, both the government, enterprises and social organizations should establish the concept of employment-friendly and inclusive employment, and eliminate employment age discrimination, household registration discrimination, etc.
On the other hand, employment is the right of the elderly, and the rights and interests of the elderly to find employment must be ensured. my country's laws and regulations on employment for the elderly should be further improved. For example, labor relations, labor contracts, , labor time, etc. should all be legally agreed upon, otherwise it may affect the promotion of reemployment of the elderly.
In addition, Lu Jiehua believes that empowering the elderly with reemployment is also important, such as providing diversified and personalized employment training to the elderly. In response to the asymmetry of employment information for the elderly, he suggested building an information platform for reemployment of the elderly to fully match supply and demand.
"Each of us is on the road to getting old. Whether it is the elderly, young or middle-aged, everyone can find employment on an equal footing. This kind of employment-friendly social environment is something we need to promote." Lu Jiehua said. (At the request of the interviewee, some people have pseudonyms) (End)
