Guan Junling is 53 years old and too elderly to be employed in manufacturing. But for her and other migrant laborers, quitting is not an option.
They have been traveling from rural areas to the city in search of employment for decades. Despite working in sweatshops and constructing apartment buildings they could never buy, they were instrumental in China’s rise to prominence in the global economy.
The first generation of migrant workers is becoming older and finding it harder to find employment in a weakening economy. Many are in tight financial situations, therefore, they must search continuously.
For persons living in rural areas, there is no such thing as a “retirement” or “pensions.” Guan said, “You have to work for yourself. “When are you able to cease working? Really, not until you’re forced to lay in bed and are helpless.”
She now works long days as a housecleaner and depends on her income from these employment to save money for a medical emergency. In their hometowns, migrant workers may get free medical treatment; however, they may not have access to it elsewhere. Guan will have to cover the cost of any medical stays in Beijing out of her own money.
China’s migrant workforce ages together with the country’s population. The most recent year for which data is available, 2022, had almost 85 million migrant workers over 50, making up 29% of all migrant workers—a rise from 15% a decade earlier. They must continue working since they get little or no health insurance and pensions.
Qiu Fengxian, a rural sociology professor who presented her findings last year, revealed that in a questionnaire given to 2,500 first-generation migrant workers between 2018 and 2022, around 75% of respondents said they would work beyond the age of 60. People who were born in the 1970s or before are referred to as first-generation.
An further blow is being dealt to older workers. Construction jobs have dried up as a result of the real estate market collapse, while factory jobs have dried up as a result of automation and the faltering economy. Because age discrimination is pervasive, younger individuals often hold occupations.
“You can still find a job for young people, of course. There are positions available, but the wage is not high enough,” said Zhang Chenggang, who oversees a center at Beijing’s Capital University of Economics and Business that focuses on innovative employment models.
Zhang, who completed fieldwork in four labor marketplaces in China at the end of last year, said, “But for older migrant workers, there simply are no positions.” “Now, the issue is that you will accept a job for which compensation is provided, regardless of how little it is.”
AP spoke with a few recruiters who said that older personnel either had underlying medical conditions or didn’t work well. Some chose not to respond and hung up.
A lot of people are pursuing contract jobs. On a chilly winter’s day in late January of last year, Zhang Zixing was searching for work at a large outdoor labor market outside Beijing.
He said that around three years ago, when he was fifty-five, he was let go from a job delivering goods due to his age. In December, he was working as a cable installer at construction sites, making 260 yuan (about $35) each day.
A representative to China’s National People’s Congress and village administrator in Henan province, Zhang Quanshou, said that although some elderly migrant workers still go to bigger cities, others are only seeking for jobs close to their hometowns.
In an email answer to inquiries from a recent Congress annual meeting, Zhang, the village’s Communist Party secretary, said, “Some older migrant workers are finding temporary jobs, so it is important to build the temporary job market and provide a better platform for such services.”
Guan, who was employed on an assembly line at a clothes factory until she was fired in her 40s, is originally from a northern rice-farming area. After then, she had a variety of positions in other places until relocating to Beijing in 2018.
She works seven days a week, in part because she fears that if she declines an offer, employment agencies won’t contact her again.
She remained in Beijing to look after an old lady because she needed assistance and the money, even though migrant workers usually use the February Lunar New Year vacation to see their relatives.
Guan stated, “People either want someone who’s educated or young, and I don’t meet either of those requirements.” Her parents could only afford to send their son to school, so Guan left after middle school. “But then I realize that I have to survive, no matter how other people see me.”
Guan fears that after she becomes 55, finding a work would become much more difficult. In China, women may retire at age 50 or 55, depending on the kind of job and the firm. It is 60 for males.
Trade union leader Lu Guoquan has suggested lowering the age restriction for employment, rating employees based on their physical health rather than their age, and facilitating older workers’ access to internet job boards and labor marketplaces.
His suggestion, which was obtained by the AP and sent to an advisory group at the most recent national assembly, said that “a large number of farmers have entered cities, making an important contribution to the modernization of our country.”
Workers “are gradually becoming a relatively vulnerable group in the labor market and face a number of thresholds and problems in continuing to work,” according to the report, as they become older.
An interview request was turned down by Lu, the director of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions’ general office.
When he was in his 40s, Duan Shuangzhu gave up a life of tending sheep and cows in the Shanxi region of north China, and he has spent the last 25 years gathering rubbish in a particular Beijing district. Every day of the week, he rises at 3:30 a.m. to do his rounds. He is paid 3,300 yuan ($460) a month for that, and he lives in a room in the basement.
Duan’s spouse remained on the farm, taking care of their grandkids there. Duan has saved money for his family, his children, and his grandkids, but he has never made a pension system payment because he prefers to spend the little money he makes on his family.
That is consistent with the trend Qiu discovered throughout her study and documented in a book last year. She discovered that older migrant laborers relocated to the city to better the lives of their offspring and other family members, not for themselves. Few people have ascended the economic ladder, and the majority have little or no savings. Although they hoped that their kids would, the majority also became migratory laborers.
According to Qiu, the majority of migrant workers’ wages went toward their kids’ weddings, housing, and schooling. “Basically, they waited until they were 55 years old to start working for themselves and making plans for their own later years.”
68-year-old Duan has no intention of retiring.
He replied, “It’s enough to survive as long as I can work every day,” as he stood near to several recycling-colored communal trash cans. “It’s enough for me to eat every day; I didn’t grow up in a wealthy family.”