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Explainer | China’s ‘young seniors’ and ‘elderly youths’ mingle in internet slang as users poke fun at rat race

  • China’s internet users have come up with several terms to make light of a challenging job market, alleviating stress through humour
  • Expressions like ‘young seniors’, ‘elderly youth’, ‘full-time children’ describe unique quirks of employment and work in an economic slump

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A difficult job market has China’s internet users crafting sardonic expressions to poke fun at the state of working life. Photo: Xinhua
Mia Nulimaimaiti
As a shaky economic recovery in China has led many companies to cut back on hiring and launch rounds of lay-offs, the country’s internet users have come up with several sardonic phrases to poke fun at difficulties they encounter at work or on the job hunt.

Here are some of the more popular terms they have employed to relieve the pressures of the rat race.

1. Young seniors/employable seniors

Those of an older age but relatively young – typically between 60 and 70 – who remain in the labour force, either by choice or by necessity.

Discussion of the phrase sprouted last week when Ma Jiantang, former party secretary of the Development Research Center of the State Council, stated at a forum that individuals aged 60 to 70 should be regarded as “young seniors” because of their good health and continued desire to work.

It reflects China’s lopsided demographic landscape, as the country’s dwindling birth rate and growing elderly population – a consequence of the decades-long imposition of a one-child limit – have exacerbated age imbalances and increased strain on the pension pool.

Numerous experts have called for an increase in the retirement age to alleviate insolvency problems with the pension system and mitigate future labour shortages.
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