A latest report shows that 68 percent of surveyed senior citizens in China intend to return to the workplace after retirement while 30 percent of the interviewees say they have economic pressure. Experts said it’s a normal and beneficial phenomenon given the slow growth of pension in recent years and labor shortages in some industries.

The survey report on the post-retirement employment of senior citizens released by Chinese recruitment website 51job.com on Monday reveals that 34.4 percent of elderly job-hunters want to subsidize their family expenditures through reemployment, or increase their family income to meet higher consumption demands.

The report also shows that 46.7 percent of the elderly return to the workplace in an attempt to realize their personal and social values, and another 19 percent hope to continue pursuing career development.

In terms of the major expenditures of their income from reemployment, the top three major expenditures include daily living expenditures, reservation for pensions and sharing the economic burdens of their children with the respective proportions amount to 37.7 percent, 21.3 percent and 18.3 percent.

Besides, tourism and other consumptions on entertainment and medical expenses also account for 8.3 percent and 5.3 percent of the expenditure of their reemployment income.

The survey also found that the elderly choose jobs mainly based on their past career experience and their work skills. For those with professional skills, jobs such as accountants and technical consultants, which account for 16.3 percent, and positions in the training industry such as calligraphy teachers and photographers, which account for 9 percent, are among the top choices.

Whereas job-hunters with less education but with patience and care are more likely to work in the labor-intensity industries such as the service and logistics industries, accounting for 41 percent and 20 percent respectively, such as cleaning workers, sanitation workers and cooks.

It is beneficial to both the elderly and society that they would like to and are qualified to work after retirement since the average Chinese life expectancy has increased and many aged people still stay in good health when they’re retired, Zhou Haiwang, deputy director of the Institute of Population and Development under the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

According to Zhou, reemployment after retirement gives the elderly a chance to realize some of their dreams while getting more income to improve their life quality. It also helps in solving the problem of labor shortage in some industries.

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