Cases of rehiring retired professionals are rising rapidly in China. As rapid aging creates shortages of skilled labor, universities, hospitals, and government agencies are bringing back retired professors, doctors, and engineers.
Public institutions across China have recently been carrying out a series of rehirings targeting so-called "gray-haired talent," according to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 19th.
Lu, 62, who worked as an electrical engineering professor at a university in Sichuan province, will return to work as a researcher at the same university starting in September, not long after retiring. The school asked him to continue handling research projects that had not yet been completed.
"I'm one of the most experienced professors, so the school asked me to stay on," he said, explaining the background to his rehiring. His salary is lower than before retirement at 10,000 yuan (about 2.2 million won) per month, but since he already receives a pension and has no social insurance burden, the university can also reduce its labor cost burden.
"The period when money mattered most has passed," Lu said. "I'm satisfied that I can continue research rather than just resting at home."
Over 300 Million Aged 60 and Above; Retirement Extension and Rehiring Pursued Simultaneously
China's pace of aging is fast even among the world's major countries. According to China's National Bureau of Statistics, the population aged 60 and above stood at 323 million as of the end of last year, accounting for about 23% of the total population. As the working-age population declines while the proportion of the elderly steadily rises, securing labor has emerged as a national challenge.
In response, the Chinese government is pursuing a plan to gradually delay the statutory retirement age for men from 60 to 63, and for female office workers from 55 to 58. It is also stepping up efforts to minimize the gap in skilled labor by running rehiring of retirees in parallel.
In fact, the Yunnan Provincial Transportation Bureau recently appointed 42 retired engineers as project advisers to support the work of younger employees. Quanzhou city in Fujian province also introduced a similar system, and universities in several regions including Anhui, Heilongjiang, Shandong, and Sichuan provinces have issued a series of notices for rehiring retired professors.
The medical field is no exception. A public hospital in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region recently announced it would rehire five retired doctors, moving to secure medical personnel.
Peng Peng, chairman of the Guangdong Society of Reform, said, "China has already fully entered an aging society and has a large-scale pool of healthy retired workers." He added, "How to utilize their expertise and experience is becoming an important policy task."
Skilled Labor Is Needed, but Concerns of Clashing with Youth Jobs
However, experts point out that expanding the use of elderly workers could create another social challenge. While it has the effect of offsetting the decline in labor over the long term, given the currently high youth unemployment rate, there is a possibility that job competition could intensify.
In China, millions of college graduates enter the labor market each year, but they are struggling to find quality jobs amid an economic slowdown and reduced corporate hiring. There are also analyses that the employment environment is worsening further as the spread of artificial intelligence (AI) replaces some jobs.
Peng said, "Expanding retirees' participation in economic activity is necessary to respond to aging, but the youth employment difficulties must also be considered." He added, "Retirement extension and rehiring policies need to be pursued gradually through sufficient review and social consensus."
"There is not yet a cure-all solution that can resolve both aging and youth unemployment simultaneously," he said, stressing that balance in policy is most important above all.
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