China’s financial capital Shanghai has unveiled initiatives to strengthen employment support for senior citizens, positioning “silver-hair power” as a pillar of the city’s high-quality development.
The move comes as China grapples with a deepening demographic crisis, with the country’s population aged 60 and above surpassing 320 million by the end of 2025, and Shanghai’s registered elderly population reaching 5.769 million, representing an ageing rate of 38 per cent.
The city aims to create age-friendly job opportunities, particularly for younger, healthier seniors, while improving human resources services to facilitate employment.
Authorities will encourage businesses and social organisations to develop diverse and personalised job roles tailored to seniors’ health conditions and skill sets, with firms engaged in elderly product development encouraged to hire seniors as project evaluators.
Employers are also being supported in re-hiring retired professionals, with a focus on teachers, doctors and scientists.
The Shanghai Civil Affairs Bureau noted that many seniors are already contributing through various platforms, from accompanying others to hospital visits to serving as technical advisers in expert pools.
Their continued participation not only enriches their own lives but also helps address structural labour shortages.
Active job seekers amongst retirees grew at an average annual rate of 15 per cent, highlighting demand from the demographic.
The initiative follows national guidelines outlined in China’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), which underscores the strategic importance of active ageing.
Since March, places including Shanghai and Henan province have rolled out a series of policy measures aimed at improving employment support for senior citizens and safeguarding the rights of overage workers.
The plan also seeks to expand insurance coverage for older workers, addressing a long-standing deterrent to elderly employment.
Hu Zhan, a professor at Fudan University specialising in ageing studies, said concerns that elderly employment could affect younger job seekers are largely unfounded.
The share of China’s population aged 60 and above rose to 23 per cent in 2025, while the population fell for a fourth year, declining by 3.4 million to 1.405 billion.
The demographic shift has placed mounting pressure on pension systems and created structural labour market gaps that Shanghai’s new policies aim to address.