China's top labor authorities on Friday vowed to improve services for its rapidly aging population, two days after researchers said that every pensioner will be supported by two taxpayers by 2035.

Vice-Minister of Human Resources and Social Security Wang Xiaochu (left) exchanges views with Yin Chengji, the ministry's spokesman, at a news briefing in Beijing on Friday. [China Daily]

"We hope to gear ourselves up for an aging China by consistently improving the pension system as well as various services for the senior population," Wang Xiaochu, vice-minister of human resources and social security, told a press conference in Beijing.

After rapid development in recent years, the urban basic retirement insurance had covered 235.5 million people by 2009, according to a government white paper released at the briefing. But similar efforts in rural areas, where nearly 36 million people remain in poverty, are still in a trial phase.

On Wednesday, Yang Yansui, director of the Research Center of Employment and Social Security of Tsinghua University, said during a forum in Beijing that the "crisis point" of an aging society will be reached in 2035, when 810 million workers will have to support 294 million senior citizens aged 65 or older.

Ninety-percent of the members of the post-1980s generation polled in a recent survey also said they were incapable of supporting their parents.

The survey, conducted by the social research center of China Youth Daily via two major websites, Minyi.net.cn and Hudong.com, polled 1,612 people born in or after 1980. Nearly 74 percent of the people polled said their workload was so overwhelming that they were unable to set aside time to be with their parents.

More than 40 percent of those polled said the disparity in social security and medical care in different cities made it difficult for them to support their parents.

Researchers have suggested postponing the retirement age and easing family planning policies as possible measures to help avert the worrying trend.

"We have taken note of the fact that the issue (of postponing the retirement age) has caused certain controversies in some countries and triggered some fairly large-scale demonstrations as of late," Wang Xiaochu said.

Wang said China's "institutional advantages" would be adequate to effectively cope with the aging challenges.

People aged above 60 will rise to 31 percent of China's total population by 2050, said Li Baoku, president of the China Aging Development Foundation. Currently, those aged above 60 form 12.5 percent of the population.

Employment challenges

Employment challenges are also "very severe", said Yin Chengji, spokesman for the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. About 24 million people - 6.3 million of them fresh college graduates - are looking for jobs this year. But the number of available openings is only half that number, he said.

Employment stability poses another threat. An estimated 40 percent of the new jobs are for "flexible" employees, Yin said. Recruitment difficulties for rural migrant workers in the spring and employment challenges for fresh college graduates in the fall have also become habitual problems in recent years, he said.

The white paper, issued by the State Council Information Office, said that China has strengthened human resources training to comprehensively improve the quality of its workforce.

The government has conducted special training programs on new theories, knowledge, technologies and methods for middle- and high-level professionals in fields important to the development of the economy, society, science and technology, it said.

From 2005 to 2009, 3 million middle- and high-level professionals participated in such training programs, it said.

To promote the development of human resources in western China, authorities also carried out a training plan to aid ethnic groups in the scientific and technological fields in the Xinjiang Uygur and Tibet Autonomous Regions, as well as for professionals in Qinghai Province. In 2009, China trained at least 2,888 scientific and technical personnel and professionals, it said.

To meet the demands of different groups in finding jobs and gear them up for different stages of their careers, the government has also conducted vocational training programs. By the end of 2009, there were more than 6,000 technical schools and employment training centers as well as more than 20,000 private vocational training institutions, it said.

For junior and senior high school graduates who do not manage to attain higher education, the government also offers pre-job training courses to help them master vocational skills or obtain a professional certificate before they look for work.

(China Daily September 11, 2010)