Making Labor Quality A Force For Growth

A demographic conundrum has been baffling economists in China of late. On the one hand, life expectancy has increased. On the other, aging is raising the specter of labor shortage when the economy is trying to shake off the COVID impact as well as myriad other domestic and overseas headwinds in order to stabilize growth, and pursue consumption upgrade and high-quality development.

To ensure aging and "deep aging"－that is, 14 percent of the population being aged 65 or older－do not hurt growth but aid it, experts are focusing on turning adversity into opportunity.

Thus, the multibillion dollar potential in pension and wealth management products for the elderly is being sought to be harnessed, raising hopes this will eventually lead to innovative utilization of resources, including human resources, and support long-term economic growth.

From a general perspective, rising life expectancy bears testimony to improving medical services, food safety, life quality and proliferation of physical exercises.

China now ranks higher among upper-middle-income countries in terms of key health indicators, said Mao Qun'an, director of the commission's department of planning and information. In China, however, longer life expectancy coincides with aging and deep aging.

Data released by the National Bureau of Statistics in late January showed that people aged 60 and older accounted for 18.9 percent, or around 267 million, of China's population (1.413 billion at the end of 2021). Those aged 65 and above constituted 14.2 percent, or more than 200 million, of the population by the end of last year.