The average age of the 280 million migrant workers in mainland China has increased again, reaching 41.4 years in 2020, 0.6 years higher than the previous year. Compared to 2008, the age of migrant workers has increased by 7.4 years in 12 years. China’s migrant workers are getting old.
This figure is disclosed in the latest “2020 Migrant Workers Monitoring Survey Report” (hereinafter referred to as “the Report”) released by the National Bureau of Statistics of the mainland. It can be compared that according to the data of the Report, the average age of Chinese migrant workers was 34 years old in 2008 and 37.3 years old in 2012. In other words, the average age of migrant workers has increased by 7.4 years in 12 years.
Among them, in terms of the age structure of migrant workers, 49.4% are aged 40 or below, down 1.2 percentage points from the previous year; 26.4% are aged 50 or above, up 1.8 percentage points from the previous year, and their proportion continues to increase.
In 2016, the proportion of the 16-30 age group reached 31.9%, but by 2020, the proportion will only be 22.7%, a drop of 9.2 percentage points in four years.
Average age composition of migrant workers (Source: National Bureau of Statistics)
According to the analysis, one of the main factors of the rapid decline of this age group is closely related to the change of China’s birth population. In terms of births over the years, from 1986 to 1990, China’s annual births exceeded 23 million, especially in 1987 when it hit a peak of 25.08 million births in the last 40 years, and 24.45 million in 1988. After entering the 1990s, China’s annual births continued to decline, falling to 22.5 million in 1991, 21.126 million in 1992, 21 million in 1994 (20.977 million), and 20 million in 1998 (19.335 million).
According to the “National Name Report 2020” released by the mainland Ministry of Public Security in February 2021, as of December 31, 2020, a total of 1.035 million newborns were born in 2020 and have registered with public security organs for household registration.
The population of mainland China has fallen off a cliff.
Meanwhile, the Report shows that the total number of migrant workers nationwide in 2020 is 285.6 million, down 5.17 million or 1.8% from the previous year, and the size is 98.2% of the previous year.
The decrease in the number of migrant workers is in developed coastal areas. From the perspective of importing places, 151.32 million migrant workers were employed in the eastern region, 5.68 million less than the previous year, down 3.6%, accounting for 53% of the total number of migrant workers. Among them, 20.76 million migrant workers are employed in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, 1.32 million less than the previous year, down 6.0%; 51.79 million migrant workers are employed in Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, 2.12 million less than the previous year, down 3.9%; 42.23 million migrant workers are employed in the Pearl River Delta, 1.95 million less than the previous year, down 4.4%.
Around the topic of “migrant workers are getting old”, netizens on the mainland started a discussion.
Some netizens said, “I am not a worker, not a farmer, and not a migrant worker, but I have been doing the work of these three positions.”
Others said, “Why do we work so hard and spend our lives in poverty? Where did the wealth go? God asks”.
One netizen thinks, “In the near future, migrant workers will disappear, and with the aging of the population and the further decline of the birth rate, the cost of labor services in China will only get higher and higher. The demographic dividend has already disappeared.” Some netizens went on to say that “business will become more and more difficult and job opportunities will become more and more scarce”.
Some netizens analyzed that “according to the first baby boom, there are 10 to 20 million people in the labor force every year due to aging, and most of the newborn labor force will be employed in the tertiary industry, engineering industry and factory manufacturing industry are doomed to die!”
One netizen said, thinking of himself, “I am not a migrant worker, but I am getting old and still poor. I don’t expect my pension to be enough.” After this sentence, the netizen posted a crying emoji.
These words resonated with thousands of mainland netizens, reflecting the seriousness of China’s economic situation and the hardship of people’s lives.
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