SCMP:China’s middle-aged jobseekers face age discrimination in unfriendly market as economic, unemployment pressures rise

[Hamartia Antidote]

China’s middle-age jobseekers face ‘notorious glass ceiling of 35’

Coronavirus worsened the employment woes for middle-aged workers in China, and while unemployment figures for the 25 to 59 age group are low, many face challenges to find work.

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• Coronavirus worsened the employment woes for middle-aged workers in China, and while unemployment figures for the 25 to 59 age group are low, many face challenges
• Some head to coffee shops to send out résumés, while unemployment pressures are also limiting the ability to have children, adding to China’s population worries
• 
  
  According to a survey conducted by Zhaopin earlier this year, 85 per cent of workers believe that there is a 35-year-old threshold in the workplace, with 60.2 per cent calling for the issue of age discrimination to be addressed. Illustration: Henry Wong

“Mum, remember to come back home early after work,” Mia Fan’s six-year-old daughter says every morning before heading off to primary school.
Fan would normally respond with a nod and a smile before leaving her house around 8.30am in a scene replicated in a lot of households as parents head out for work.
But for Fan, after being laid off from her job as an administrator in the financial industry in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou in early May, the 35-year-old takes her own milk or water to a nearby Starbucks.
She spends the morning sending out résumés before changing to a nearby bookstore in the afternoon to read and paint.

I am afraid that lying at home all day may leave a negative impression on my daughterMia Fan​

Imitating her old work routine to hide her situation from her parents-in-law, who live with Fan, her daughter and her husband, she returns home at around 5.30pm having first wandered around a bustling night market.

“This has almost become my fixed daily routine,” said Fan, who occasionally skips breakfast at home to appear to be running late for work.
“I don’t want to make the old people worried. Also, I am afraid that lying at home all day may leave a negative impression on my daughter,” added Fan, who admits she feels a bit shameful for losing the job as most of her relatives are in a good financial situation.

Fan has applied for over 70 positions across various job portals, but has only received offers from companies which did not quite meet her requirements.

Some even rejected her due to her age, saying that they only want people below 35.
“I don’t understand why the job market in China is so unfriendly to the middle-aged,” she added.

“No one told me the detailed reason for being fired, only that the personnel quota was full.

“But I think there is some connection between the large-scale unemployment now and the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic.”

The coronavirus-battered economy over the past three years and the faltering recovery this year have challenged Beijing’s efforts to create enough jobs, which it views as crucial for sustaining growth and social stability.

In China, the middle-age group is faced with the notorious glass ceiling of 35, which poses a challenge to their re-employment. And this year might be even harder.
The private sector, the backbone of the nation’s economy and a major source of employment, is still struggling with slow recovery, and all levels of the government are under pressure to create enough jobs for young people.

Although China’s unemployment rate for the 25 to 59 age group decreased to 4.1 per cent in May, down from 4.2 per cent in April, the jobless rate for the 16-24 age group has gradually climbed since 2020 and hit new highs over the past two months, peaking at 20.8 per cent last month.

A record 11.58 million university graduates also set to leave campus in the middle of the year, posing another challenge to Beijing’s post-coronavirus recovery efforts.

It is estimated that the number of people aged between 35-49 stands at 430 million, nearly half of the working-age population, according to Li Changan, a researcher with the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.
“They are facing bigger difficulties in landing jobs after being laid off,” said Li in an article published in the Global Times last week.
“It should also be a focus for the employment policy and social policies”.

Fan, therefore, is not alone. The sight of middle-aged unemployed people flocking to coffee shops has started to trend online in China as they charge their laptops for free and enjoy the air conditioning, but often do not buy a cup of coffee.

There are also more unemployed people flooding into this sector, making the competition increasingly fierceZhao Dejun​

The coronavirus has worsened the midlife employment crisis, leading to more older displaced workers seeking re-employment.
From February to September 2020, the number of jobseekers aged 35 and above who submitted resumes on the Zhaopin recruitment platform rose by 14.9 per cent, year-on-year, which was more than twice the growth rate of those under 35.
“I thought things would get better after the pandemic and indeed there are more people going out, taking ride-hailing service,” said 41-year-old Zhao Dejun, who became a full-time driver in Nanjing after the construction company he worked for closed in August 2021.

“However, there are also more unemployed people flooding into this sector, making the competition increasingly fierce.”
But Zhao, who previously worked part-time as a ride-hailing driver before the pandemic, has seen his daily income drop from around 1,200 yuan (US$167) to 1,500 yuan to around 300 yuan to 500 yuan.

A total of 5.4 million ride-hailing driver licenses had been issued nationwide as of April, according to the Ministry of Transport, representing a month-on-month increase of 3.4 per cent from March.
But the number of ride-hailing orders has decreased by 1.4 per cent from March to 706 million in April.

“More and more people want a slice of this cake, but the cake itself is getting even smaller,” added Zhao.

Local governments have already warned about the saturation of the ride-hailing market in cities including Zhuhai and Dongguan in Guangdong province and Jinan in Shandong province.

Sanya, on the southern island of Hainan province, also decided to stop accepting applications for ride-hailing business licenses and vehicle transport permits in early May.
“Middle-aged people often have higher salary expectations. Their rich life experiences make them more shrewd, so they are more likely to be unsatisfied with job positions, even after working for a period of time,” said Wang Chenxu, a headhunter based in Shenyang, the capital of the northeastern Liaoning province.
“In contrast, young people can be hired at a lower salary and they have fewer family responsibilities to handle.”
Wang pointed out that unless middle-aged jobseekers have outstanding work experience, it is better for companies to opt for younger employers as they can also be trained and grow quickly.

Many companies turned me down because of my age, while others lose interest as soon as they find out that I’m married but have no childrenZheng Yinghua​

“Those people over 35 usually obtain positions through internal reference or headhunting rather than public recruitment,” he added.
According to a survey conducted by Zhaopin earlier this year, 85 per cent of workers believe that there is a 35-year-old threshold in the workplace, with 60.2 per cent calling for the issue of age discrimination to be addressed.

There have been increasing calls in recent years from the public and experts to remove the age limit as part of efforts to address job discrimination, but little progress has been made.

“Many companies turned me down because of my age, while others lose interest as soon as they find out that I’m married but have no children,” said Zheng Yinghua, who lost her job as a licensed pharmacist in Guangdong during lockdown in April 2022 having held the role for eight years.

The 43-year-old, while job hunting, has now turned her hand to live-streaming e-commerce, selling products ranging from tissues to nuts on Douyin – China’s version of TikTok.

Zheng can only earn a few hundred yuan per month through live-streaming as the easing of China’s restrictive zero-Covid policy in December did little for her job prospects.
“We don’t have much money, so we are not ready to raise a baby now,” she added, highlighting another of China’s ongoing problems after its population fell for the first time in 60 years in 2022.
“My husband urges me to go to work every day. He often scolds me because of work-related issues.”
For Fan in Hangzhou, she is eager to find a job even if it pays less than she previously earned, or under the so-called big/small week policy that means employees are required to work a six-day week every fortnight.

Aren’t we supposed to be the main force in implementing the three-child policy?Mia Fan​

“To some extent, going outside with people around instead of staying home could prevent me from overthinking and anxiety,” she said.
“By doing this, I just feel like I am not eliminated from society.”
A lack of employment had also restricted Fan from expanding her family after China officially ended its one-child policy in January 2016 before eventually introducing a three-child policy in May 2021.

“Aren’t we supposed to be the main force in implementing the three-child policy?,” she added.

“Without a source of income, how can we afford to have more children?”