(Observation of the Two Sessions) Representative members focus on employment fairness: remove the "35-year-old threshold" and break the educational barriers

　　China News Agency, Hangzhou, March 2 (Tong Xiaoyu) "Age under 35", "undergraduate and above"... These words have become a barrier for many people in their job search.

The National Two Sessions are about to open in 2022. Many deputies and committee members are concerned about the issue of employment fairness and propose to remove the "35-year-old threshold" and remove the educational barriers.

　　Employment equity has always been the focus of social concern.

Age, education, gender... It can be found in news reports that some employers even explicitly restrict certain groups of people from applying for the exam in their recruitment announcements.

　　How to achieve employment fairness in the face of rising voices against employment discrimination?

　　A few days ago, the topic of "It is recommended to cancel the 35-year-old limit for civil service exams" has been on the hot search.

Jiang Shengnan, a representative of the National People's Congress and a researcher at Wenzhou University, suggested that the "35-year-old threshold" for civil servants should be gradually lifted, advocated that the whole society recruit workers to eliminate age discrimination in the workplace, and help re-employees break the 35-year-old age limit.

　　The reporter noticed that Jiang Shengnan put forward a relevant proposal at the National Two Sessions in 2021, but the main body was civil servants.

　　"The age of recruiting civil servants is the first hurdle that needs to be cleared. Only by solving the first hurdle can it radiate to the employers of the whole society." When talking about why he still pays attention to this topic this year, Jiang Shengnan bluntly said that removing the "35-year-old threshold" is " urgent matter."

　　She said that the age limit of the "35-year-old threshold" sends a negative signal to the whole society: people over 35 years old lose the possibility of fair competition with the labor force of the whole society.

　　"This artificial age division first reflects the concept of inequality in the labor market." Jiang Shengnan worries that the employment market environment will fall into a vicious circle in the long run.

　　Based on this, she suggested that the government should set an example in changing the age limit of 35, and gradually open up the "35-year-old threshold" for civil servants to be recruited, starting from the more economically developed cities such as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

　　She said that the current civil service recruitment system is very strict and complete. Relaxing the age limit will not allow people with insufficient ability to enter. On the contrary, it may be possible to recruit people with rich social experience in some positions, which can better promote strengths and avoid weaknesses.

　　In addition to the age limit in the job market, Han Ping, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and a first-level inspector of the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education, believes that educational barriers should also be removed.

"If the issue of education is still a 'stumbling block', it will be difficult for the 'double reduction' to be truly implemented."

　　He mentioned that although the current "double reduction" has achieved certain results, parents' anxiety about further education has not been resolved.

"If you don't get good academic performance, you won't be able to go to general high school. For many parents, if they go to vocational school, they will lose the 'stepping stone' of some good units."

　　It is reported that in 2021, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued a document to deploy graduates of vocational colleges to participate in the open recruitment of public institutions.

　　However, in Han Ping's view, although some regions and employers do not explicitly restrict graduates from vocational colleges when recruiting, they cannot treat them equally when hiring, which makes it difficult for a large number of vocational college students to obtain good jobs and cannot compete with ordinary colleges and universities. Graduates enjoy the same rights and interests, and fairness is greatly lacking.

　　"There are individual differences in ability, but fairness of opportunity should not be ignored." He said that the probability of graduates from "double first-class" and "famous schools" is objectively higher, but academic qualifications do not determine a young person's life. The potential in quality should be tapped, and employers should not neglect to make efforts in this regard.

　　He suggested that in order to solve the problem of employment discrimination among graduates of vocational colleges, the most important point is to make fair and equitable institutional arrangements for employment.

(over)