An interesting People News piece on a Chinese government push for the elderly to re-enter the workforce, a move towards what is being called the 'universal labour era'.
Shanghai Issues 'Work Urging Order' to the Elderly: Is the Social Security Fund Running Dry?
In the vibrant city of Shanghai, known as the most prosperous and astute city in China, a peculiar event has unfolded in recent days. Zhang, who was born in 1962 and just celebrated his 64th birthday, found himself unexpectedly urged by the government to return to work. After navigating through waves of layoffs and stock market fluctuations, he is now set to restart his life in the latter half as a 'senior intern.' The government's push for the elderly to re-enter the workforce has quickly become a trending topic.
On March 19, 28 departments in Shanghai collaborated to issue a document, delivering a 'work urging order' to the elderly. This initiative not only responds to the call of the Two Sessions but also serves as a form of 'self-rescue' by the government in light of a 35 billion yuan pension shortfall...
The document from Shanghai is certainly not an isolated incident. It marks the beginning of the entire nation transitioning into the 'universal labour era' as the mainland gradually implements delayed retirement policies.
In the vibrant city of Shanghai, known as the most prosperous and astute city in China, a peculiar event has unfolded in recent days. Zhang, who was born in 1962 and just celebrated his 64th birthday, found himself unexpectedly urged by the government to return to work. After navigating through waves of layoffs and stock market fluctuations, he is now set to restart his life in the latter half as a 'senior intern.' The government's push for the elderly to re-enter the workforce has quickly become a trending topic.
On March 19, 28 departments in Shanghai collaborated to issue a document, delivering a 'work urging order' to the elderly. This initiative not only responds to the call of the Two Sessions but also serves as a form of 'self-rescue' by the government in light of a 35 billion yuan pension shortfall...
The document from Shanghai is certainly not an isolated incident. It marks the beginning of the entire nation transitioning into the 'universal labour era' as the mainland gradually implements delayed retirement policies.
Sit Kier Charmless could set an example to us all by abolishing the legal privileges on his pension.
ReplyDeletedearieme - good idea, or he could donate it to Comic Relief.
ReplyDeleteThere's quite a few interesting videos doing the rounds on Youtube that allege that China's population is not 1.4bn, its less than 1bn, maybe 800-900m. They reckon the official population data has been so manipulated as to be worthless. That comparisons with other large population growth countries such as India suggests a far lower population. This sort of thing would tally with that analysis - if there's far less Chinese people than one would have expected, getting them to work longer into retirement would be one way of hiding that fact.
ReplyDeleteFewer!
DeleteSobers - that's an interesting point. I've watched a couple of those videos and there are clearly reasons to be suspicious about the 1.4bn figure. A low birth rate seems to be an intractable problem so older people working for longer could hide the ageing population problem for a while. The problem could become severe quite quickly though.
ReplyDeleteNightmare scenario, AKH.
ReplyDeleteAlmost all "world statistics" are dubious - population, GDP, lifespan etc. Largely made up - or at least that's the way to bet.
ReplyDeleteJames - seems inevitable as things are now though.
ReplyDeletedearieme - yes, estimates at best and not necessarily informed estimates.