A supermarket chain in China posted a job advertisement seeking cashiers between the ages of 18 and 30, sparking a debate on social media about unemployment.
On Weibo, which is used as the equivalent of Twitter in the country, citizens shared the image of the advertisement and said they had difficulty finding a job.
"Do you know how hard it is for us to find a job right now? It's not easy," a 35-year-old Weibo user wrote.
In the news published today, it was stated that the post received nearly 140 million views and more than 41 thousand comments were made in the discussion that started after the post.
"Was it easier to find a job before you turned 35?" another user asked.
Another social media user said, "I am 29 years old. I have been fired three times after graduation. Although I am not married or have children, they do not respond to any of my job applications."
Many employers have been criticized for "age discrimination" in what is also called the "curse of 35" in Chinese media.
FIRED IN THEIR 30S
The US-based CNN also drew attention to this situation in another news report, writing that Chinese who were fired in their 30s had great difficulty in finding new jobs.
On the other hand, with the aging population, the Beijing administration is planning to raise the retirement age.
Currently, the retirement age is 60 for men, 50 for factory workers and 55 for white-collar workers. These age limits have not been changed since the Communist Party founded the People's Republic of China in 1949.
The Beijing administration announced in 2022 that the retirement age would be gradually raised by 2025.
