"Post-90s" start looking for jobs for retired parents
More and more parents choose to retire and re-employ to help their children share their worries, exert their residual heat and relieve anxiety
Cheng Yilun
After retiring, Master Wang came to Guangzhou from his hometown to re-employ, working as a security guard in an apartment.
Not long ago, the newspaper "Shen Rui Weekly" published an article "Post-90s Begin to Worry About Parents Getting Old", which aroused a lot of resonance among "post-80s" and "post-90s".
In these young groups, when faced with children's education and parental retirement planning at the same time, how can they achieve a "dynamic balance" between the two?
A "post-90s" reader forwarded the article to his father in order to discuss the "pension issue" ten years later, but his father, who just turned 50 this year, told her that he had already made a plan: "retirement and reemployment" .
In a Douban group that has more than 80,000 users on the topic of pension exchanges for only-child parents, "retirement and reemployment" has also become a popular topic. Alternative paths when looking for retirement solutions.
Text / All-media reporter Cheng Yilun of Guangzhou Daily
Photo/Cheng Yilun, an all-media reporter of Guangzhou Daily (except for the signature)
"Silver-haired employment" has become a boom: young people are concerned about the reemployment of their parents
According to the results of the seventh national census, as of November 1, 2020, my country's population aged 60 and above exceeded 260 million, accounting for 18.7%; it is expected that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, the national elderly population will exceed 300 million.
Population aging will undoubtedly bring many changes to economic and social development. It is precisely because of this that since November last year, the "Opinions on Strengthening Aging Work in the New Era" issued by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council clearly stated that it is necessary to encourage the elderly to continue. Play a role and explore a model suitable for flexible employment for the elderly.
According to the "Blue Book on Aging: Survey Report on the Living Conditions of the Elderly in China's Urban and Rural Areas (2018)" jointly released by the China Research Center on Aging and the Social Sciences Literature Publishing House, there are more than 90 million elderly people over the age of 60 in the country; It shows that the reserve of human resources for the elderly is increasing year by year.
On the Internet, the issue of "retirement and reemployment of the elderly" is even more common-
"It's only been two months since my mother came to my city. Today I went to find a job by myself. Do you have any recommendations for jobs suitable for middle-aged and elderly people?"
"My parents are retiring soon and they want to re-enter the workforce. How hard will it be for them to find another job?"
"What opinions and direction do you have on entrepreneurship for the elderly?"
"What issues should retirees pay attention to when re-employment?"
...
When the reporter searched, it was found that most of the questions were from children. About 80% of their parents had the independent needs of "retirement and reemployment". Some parents were out of self-realization, and some parents were retiring and re-employment. It is regarded as a social activity; of course, some parents increase their family income through retirement and re-employment to relieve their children’s economic pressure and prepare for their own retirement; some are to ease their parents’ anxiety after retirement. The children take the initiative to advise their parents to re-enter the workplace.
What kind of pension needs are revealed behind such a vigorous "silver employment" trend?
As children, how can it be more appropriate to help parents plan for retirement?
This reporter interviewed several groups of families.
Share the worries for their children and realize their self-worth, they choose to return to the workplace
"Mother worked as a nanny after retirement"
Mr. Lin's mother is 58 years old this year. After retiring from the unit a few years ago, she quickly found a housekeeping job in her hometown through offline recruitment and continued to work for three years.
Ms. Lin is a live-in nanny. She is responsible for cleaning, three meals, and picking up children at least five days a week at her employer's house. She earns three or four thousand yuan a month, plus a pension, a total of about five thousand yuan a month. income.
Mr. Lin is 30 years old and unmarried. In his opinion, he cares more about his mother's experience in this job than his income: "Mother likes children, but I can't satisfy her wish right now. Bringing children to others, Bring her some company."
Mr. Lin also said that, compared with spiritual needs, there are also material reasons for mothers to choose re-employment.
At the beginning of this year, my parents made a down payment to buy a house for Mr. Lin in Guangdong with a loan: "The reason why my mother chose to do housekeeping is that on the one hand, she is too busy, and on the other hand, it is also to share the financial pressure on me."
Re-employment after retirement, in a sense, are parents helping their children reduce the burden of pensions?
For this issue, many only children from ordinary families in third- and fourth-tier cities have expressed their approval.
The 29-year-old Xiaoyu just got divorced and brought a daughter. She told reporters that her father's biggest hobbies were self-driving tours and photography. Before he retired, Xiaoyu specially gave his father a camera, but unexpectedly, he retired After that, my father just went out to play and never traveled again. Instead, he chose to re-employ and went to a pension institution to work as a dedicated driver. He said, "I want to continue to shine." The monthly salary is 5,000 yuan, but only occasionally Night shift.
Xiaoyu couldn't bear it. "I feel a little guilty. My father should have been enjoying his life, but he re-employed to help me share my worries."
The reporter saw on a mainstream recruitment website that in the job information for retirees, jobs usually appear in the service industry, such as corporate or shopping mall cleaners, urban sanitation workers, elderly care workers, community care workers, supermarket salespersons, For security guards, greening managers, etc., employers often emphasize "age between 40 and 60 years old", and at the same time prefer retirees with local household registration or knowledge of local dialect.
These positions generally have lower educational requirements for job seekers, and salaries range from 2,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan.
"Professional parents" want to use their residual heat
There are also some "career parents" who originally possessed certain skills, and their retirement and re-employment even seem to usher in the "second spring" of their careers.
Netizen Ziheng clearly felt that mothers who are now returning to the education industry are becoming more cheerful and confident.
Ziheng's mother, a junior high school Chinese teacher with 30 years of teaching experience, just retired last year.
"My mother has been a class teacher for a long time, and she is used to being busy, so when she just retired, I clearly felt her anxiety." It happened that last year Ziheng was preparing to take the postgraduate exam at home, and every day she had to face the broken thoughts from her mother. : "She would treat me as her student, either criticizing me for not having a sense of time, or teaching me that I wasn't working hard enough. She would also appear depressed, feeling that she still had a lot of teaching ideas, but they were useless. "
In order to help her mother relieve her anxiety, Ziheng encouraged her to go out and do activities from time to time.
After the Spring Festival this year, Ziheng's mother tried to apply for a job in a remedial class near her home, but she did not expect it to be successful. She mainly brought students for the middle school entrance examination, "This greatly increased her self-confidence. On the one hand, she felt that she had the ability to work, and on the other hand On the one hand, there will be a sense of achievement.”
In fact, for retirees with professional skills, it is easier for them to return to the workplace, especially in industries such as education, medical care, accounting, etc. These "skilled seniors" can not only successfully achieve reemployment, but also obtain relatively decent salaries.
Citizen Xiao Yang’s father has been retired for four years. He is now rehired to a private hospital as a thoracic surgeon. He is usually responsible for some outpatient clinics and minor surgeries. His monthly salary is quite considerable. It's not for this income, "saving one more person, one more blessing." As an experienced old doctor, he believes that he still has a lot of residual value now, and how to make the most of his residual value is what he cares about. concerned.
Xiao Yang's mother is also in the medical system. When she is about to retire next year, she made plans for herself early after seeing her husband's retirement arrangement. She just passed the senior pharmacist certificate the year before last.
"She has already planned her retirement life next year. She will either go to work in some pharmacies with a certificate, or she will be hired back to some hospitals."
With the development of the mobile Internet, some elderly employment groups have begun to appear in live broadcasts, games, short videos and other formats.
"For example, I liked music when I was young, but due to various reasons, I took up a computer job." Uncle Zhao, 65, told reporters that after retirement, his children signed up for him in a senior university and asked him to learn musical instruments again. He also uses his computer skills to shoot and make some performance videos. Now Uncle Zhao occasionally takes in some commercial performances with other students. Although his income is not high, he enjoys himself: "It can be considered to make up for the regrets in life."
Children and parents "advance and retreat" together to plan retirement life in advance
Need to adjust mentality to adapt to identity change
At the same time, for some parents, re-employment in retirement is not easy.
"Most of our parents' generation lack strong personal hobbies and interests." Netizen Bella said.
Bella's parents were laid off from the system at the beginning of the 21st century. In order to make a living, the couple opened a brick-and-mortar clothing store together. However, with the rise of online shopping, the couple simply closed the store and set up a vegetable stall to become self-employed.
Until 2018, Bella's mother fell ill, and Bella finally graduated from college. Bella's father simply quit the business, and lived a retirement life in his early 50s.
"Although the family's financial pressure is not too great, when they retired together, the atmosphere in the family changed. For example, my dad became afraid to spend, and focused on trivial matters every day." As a result, Bella felt at a loss.
"To be honest, I really hope he can return to the workplace, but when I said this idea, I was opposed by other family members, thinking it was tossing the elderly."
Similar to Bella's situation, netizen Tiantian also encountered the problem of her father's "retirement and reemployment" this year.
Tiantian's father is 50 years old this year. As an intellectual, Tiantian's father once worked as a university teaching assistant, and then left the university to start his own business and run a company from scratch.
Affected by various factors in recent years, he has lost his job at the age of 50.
"We persuaded him to try to do security, property and other work first, and then start a new business after he has funds, but he has not put down the air yet."
It can be seen that if the elderly want to achieve retirement and re-employment, they still need to overcome psychological challenges, accept the change of their own identity, and also need to break through some inherent cognitions.
Support parents to act as group performers and open toy stores
However, whether it is "retirement and reemployment" or "retirement after retirement", the most important thing is that children and their parents can form a consistent plan.
The reporter found that in those well-communicated family relationships, under the influence of their children, parents are more inclined to have richer hobbies and broader employment thinking, and are more willing to try new things.
For some young people who know how to communicate with their parents about pension issues and even employment issues in advance, the retirement life of their parents will not only not become a burden for them, but will become a driving force.
Citizen Xiao Deng's mother is 53 years old this year, and she is about to retire from the accounting position in two years.
As early as the age of 50, Deng's mother began to prepare for her retirement - as an extra.
Xiao Deng said that in the first half of her mother's life, she had been on a relatively "smooth" road. However, during a chat, she learned that her mother had a dream of becoming an actress since she was a child, and since then she began to work hard to realize her mother's dream. Effort: During the postgraduate entrance examination, she chose to major in communication and accumulated contacts through contact with the film and television industry; and Mama Deng is also working hard. She searches the Internet for recruitment information of extras, and learns to dress, practice manners and singing. These become Deng's mother's "dream preparatory work" in her spare time.
"Although we all know that it will be very hard to perform in a group, I can imagine that when my mother is preparing for all this, she is full and happy." Xiao Deng said that she and her mother have been working on retirement in two years. A unanimous plan was made: two years later, Xiao Deng graduated as a graduate student, and his mother officially retired. The two gathered in Guangzhou to open a new chapter in their life together.
Also preparing for his youthful dreams is Xiaoxiong's father.
The 50-year-old has done many different types of work in the first half of his life, but Xiaoxiong has never delved into his father's retirement life before: "I always thought it was very far away, until I took my father to a toy antique shop in Dongshankou. When we were playing in the store, he told me that his biggest wish was to open his own 'toy store for the elderly' after retirement."
This idea instantly inspired Xiaoxiong, and he and his father began to imagine the furnishings in the store: including toys suitable for the elderly, such as building blocks for preventing Alzheimer's, chess, and throwing pots to exercise the hands, feet and limbs of the elderly, etc. It belongs to the old toy of the father's generation "post-70s".
"But now opening a physical store must be a combination of online and offline." Xiong Dad said.
For this reason, in his spare time, he constantly keeps pace with the times to study technical means such as WeChat public account editing, video editing, Douyin shooting, etc. His father said that these technical means may change in five years, but he maintains One's own sensitivity to information, keeping up with the pulse of the times, is preparing for the future.
Dad Xiong told reporters that the sooner you plan for employment after retirement, the better: "Age should not be a limitation in life. On the contrary, when you go through the confusion and regrets of your youth, the older you are, the more fulfilling your life will be. In this life, there is always a sequence. Don't worry too much about the future, don't fight unprepared battles, just seize the moment. "
"As for me, my biggest dream right now is to earn enough money to open a shop for my dad." Xiaoxiong said with a smile, although based on his current income and his father's pension, all this seems a little far, but it does not hinder this dream. Bring them enough joy and satisfaction.