Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
    China
    Home / China / Society

    Older job seekers run into employment hurdles

    By CHENG SI | China Daily | Updated: 2021-11-29 09:10
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    A screenshot from the State Council's website.

    A recent post left by a 45-year-old computer programmer on the State Council's website has stirred heated debate on the difficulties older people face in landing new jobs.

    The programmer, using the name "Mary", said they had professional qualifications in the Java programming language and big data, and were once part of a company's "tech backbone".

    However, they were turned down by several companies before even being interviewed when they tried to find a new job after spending six months at home with their son.

    "Mary" is not alone. In January, a joint report by the State Council's Development Research Center, the China Development Research Center and Zhaopin, an online hiring portal, said people older than 35 may face a higher risk of long-term unemployment.

    It said their advancing years, depreciation of their work skills and resulting decline in their confidence were the main reasons they had difficulties landing new jobs.

    The report said that a survey conducted last year showed the number of job seekers older than 50 rose by 32.3 percent between February and September, with more men than women looking for work.

    About 80 percent of those surveyed who were older than 35 said their age was the main barrier hampering them in finding new jobs. Zhaopin said the number of resumes submitted by job seekers over 35 on its platform rose by 4.3 percent year-on-year between February and September last year, while the number submitted by job seekers under 35 fell by around 11 percent.

    "I felt lucky that I finally got a new job in July," said Zhang Chen, a 36-year-old accountant in Beijing. "I didn't even think that age might become a problem for me, but I felt offended when I heard the interviewers jeering at my age and previous working experience."

    He said that becoming old is an inevitable part of life and it's extremely impolite to reject job seekers because of their age.

    "Working experience and ability matter, don't they? I'm sorry that people of my age or above face discrimination," he said.

    Liu Yan, a customer manager at a construction company in Beijing, said that recruiting people under 35 years old is an implicit standard at her company.

    "I was astonished when I heard that, because I am getting close to 40 years old, too," she said. "But I can understand why my company has such a requirement as we are a construction company that needs its employees to run around different construction sites that may be in some far away places like the Tibet autonomous region. It's really hard for people who are older or who have children to take care of."

    The report said that for job seekers above 35 years old, the main pressure is not finding a new job, but finding a "good" job. For older job seekers, adjusting their requirements, learning more digital work skills and unleashing their potential to start their own businesses were much more important than getting stuck in self doubt or self criticism.

    Chu Yin, an economist, said in a video posted on Douyin that those serving in high-tech positions need to think about transferring from technician jobs to becoming product managers or working in marketing positions after 30.

    "Positions requiring higher creativity will need candidates who are even getting into their 60s or 70s-even 80 years old," he said. "But the fact is that most of the technical personnel nowadays are not fundamentally different from ordinary workers whose experience or skills are not that important, other than having a strong body and being able to stay up late."

    Shen Jianfeng, a professor at the Law School of Central University of Finance and Economics, said that workers may face career hurdles as they get older because their efficiency might be lower and they are more likely to get injured. Joint efforts are needed to eliminate discrimination against older workers, he said. Workers need to embrace lifetime learning, while companies should shoulder their social responsibilities to train their workers and help them surmount career barriers.

    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
     
    日韩精品无码人妻一区二区三区| 本免费AV无码专区一区| 无码人妻精品一区二区蜜桃百度 | 乱人伦中文字幕在线看| AV无码免费永久在线观看| 无码不卡av东京热毛片| 日本精品中文字幕| 中文字幕理伦午夜福利片| 91精品国产综合久久四虎久久无码一级| 国产品无码一区二区三区在线| 人妻少妇久久中文字幕一区二区 | 精品无码久久久久国产| 亚洲国产a∨无码中文777| 亚洲欧美精品一区久久中文字幕| 被夫の上司に犯中文字幕 | 亚洲综合最新无码专区| 国产真人无码作爱视频免费| 亚洲AV无码欧洲AV无码网站| 国产综合无码一区二区辣椒| 日韩中文字幕在线不卡| 亚洲va中文字幕无码| 最近中文字幕大全中文字幕免费 | 亚洲va中文字幕无码| 最近2019中文字幕电影1| 日本不卡中文字幕| 久久人妻无码中文字幕| 精品久久久中文字幕人妻| 亚洲精品无码av天堂| 亚洲国产精品无码久久久久久曰| 无码精品前田一区二区| 午夜无码一区二区三区在线观看 | 狠狠躁天天躁无码中文字幕图| 中文字幕在线亚洲精品| 亚洲国产精品无码中文字| 99久久中文字幕| 中文字幕在线资源| 蜜桃无码一区二区三区| 亚洲av无码一区二区乱子伦as| 无码人妻久久一区二区三区免费丨| 亚洲A∨无码一区二区三区| 精品无码一区二区三区爱欲|