Ageism still a barrier for mainland jobseekers

Proposal calls for ban on maximum age cap of 35 for government recruits

Janice Chen used to be a mid-level employee at a multinational firm in Shanghai until she was laid off in the summer of 2020 because of an economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Searching for work for more than a year, she could not find a job until a few months ago, at a much smaller domestic company.

Chen is 40 years old, and she said her age was one of the biggest obstacles she had to overcome during the hiring process.

“I was prepared that it could be hard, but since I am not having any more kids and have good work experience, I thought jobseeking for me might not be so difficult. But I was wrong,” said the woman.

“In several interviews, I was asked the same question, ‘why don’t you choose to be a housewife at this age?’”

The country kicked off its push for delayed retirement with an experimental scheme in Jiangsu province from the start of the month, allowing employees to postpone retirement by at least one year if they volunteer and obtain the employers’ consent.

The official retirement age is 60 for most men, 55 for whitecollar women and 50 for bluecollar women, relatively younger than most major economies.

While more older people are encouraged to remain in the workforce, many job advertisements in the private and public sectors say they will not hire people older than 35.

Applications for civil servant positions, which are sought-after jobs, are only open for people under the age of 35, according to official government recruitment policies.

Jennifer Feng, chief human resources officer at leading employment firm 51job.com, said, overall, older workers are facing growing challenges in finding work, especially in the post-pandemic era.

“We have to acknowledge that, amid the pandemic, talent requirements from employers include more online skills, which is favourable to younger workers,” she said.

Jiang Shengnan, a delegate to the National People’s Congress (NPC), the mainland’s top legislative body that is holding its annual session in Beijing, said the first step to rectifying ageism is to ban the maximum age cap for government staff recruitment.

“Being 35 is to be in the golden age for employment. To cancel the age limit in civil servant exams will send a message to businesses and individuals that age discrimination should not exist in the workplace,” she wrote in her proposal to the NPC.