The predicament and Countermeasures faced by the elderly Peasant Workers

Since 2016, the employment problems caused by the slowdown in economic growth and the social problems caused by the aging population have been the focus of the whole society. However, when discussing these issues, there is a large-scale vulnerable group that has not been given due attention, that is, the elderly migrant workers who are over 50 years old in 50 million. They are old and frail, the industry is generally depressed, and the pressure to support their families is increasing. The problem of providing for the aged is imminent. Whether from the perspective of maintaining social stability or building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way in 2020, the problem of elderly migrant workers needs to be paid attention to as soon as possible and social cooperation is needed to put forward countermeasures.

The elderly migrant workers are close to 50 million, facing difficulties.

With the passage of time, the total number and age structure of migrant workers have changed fundamentally in recent years, the growth rate of migrant workers has slowed down year by year, and the age structure has been aging. According to the report on the Monitoring and Survey of Peasant Workers by the National Bureau of Statistics, the total number of migrant workers increased from 253 million in 2011 to 277 million in 2015, but the growth rate decreased sharply from 4.4% to 1.3% year by year. The average age of migrant workers increased from 36 to 38.6, and the average age of migrant workers over 50 increased from 36.14 million to 49.66 million (the proportion increased from 14.5% to 17.9%), with an average annual growth rate of 8.27%.

The decline of physical strength makes the employment competitiveness of elderly migrant workers plummet. The elderly migrant workers are the first generation of migrant workers after the reform and opening up. They generally have a low level of education and lack of skills, so they can only engage in heavy manual labor in construction, mining and other industries for a long time. Many elderly migrant workers face serious health problems because of high-intensity labor, their physical strength declines rapidly with the increase of age, and the risk of industrial injury increases, which makes employers mostly reluctant to recruit elderly migrant workers.

The downward pressure of traditional industries is huge, the employment threshold of emerging industries is relatively high, and the employment of elderly migrant workers is in a dilemma. As the key industries for the employment of migrant workers, the manufacturing and construction industries are still depressed, and the overall employment environment of migrant workers is not optimistic. Although the new economy has created many jobs, the low skills make it difficult for older migrant workers to get jobs from the new economy. Statistics show that migrant workers over the age of 50 have the lowest proportion of skills training among migrant workers, with only 25.9% and 25.5% of them receiving training in 2013 and 2012, respectively, which further magnifies the skills disadvantages of elderly migrant workers.

It is difficult to enjoy the old-age pension, and the problem that the elderly migrant workers have nothing to support is extremely urgent. Most of the elderly migrant workers were not included in the social safety net before the implementation of the Labor contract Law in 2008, and their current participation rate is still very low. The pension problem of migrant workers who are close to or over the retirement age is more thorny. Many people who are nearly retired are difficult to pay the old-age pension insurance for 15 years. Whether there is a labor relationship when they continue to work beyond the retirement age is controversial in judicial practice.

The problem of elderly migrant workers urgently needs to be solved by the cooperation of all parties.

The elderly migrant workers over the age of 50 will soon break through the 50 million mark. The problems faced by this large group should be highly concerned by the society. Most of the elderly migrant workers not only find it difficult to continue to work in the traditional industries, but also cannot get jobs from the emerging industries. They often have to shoulder the financial burden of the whole family. Long-term informal employment of elderly migrant workers will be difficult to enjoy the old-age insurance treatment for urban workers in the future. For poor elderly migrant workers, being able to continue to work and earn income is more urgent than the pension problem in the future, but the pension problem is also close at hand, and these two issues need to be considered as a whole.

Elderly migrant workers still have a strong demand for employment. Strengthening skills training and increasing the supply of jobs is a breakthrough to solve their employment problems. First of all, labor training departments need to formulate targeted labor skills training programs according to the characteristics of elderly migrant workers, and lower the threshold for them to integrate into the new economy through the necessary mobile Internet application training. Secondly, we should promote agricultural large-scale operation and agricultural industrialization through multiple channels, establish an efficient and practical agricultural technology training system, and promote the return of elderly migrant workers to their hometowns to earn income. Third, improve the accuracy of poverty alleviation policies to ensure that unemployed elderly migrant workers who do have difficulties can receive timely assistance.

The pension problem of elderly migrant workers should be solved from the institutional level as soon as possible. First of all, it is suggested that the state allocate special funds to help solve the problem of insufficient number of years of payment for elderly migrant workers. Secondly, we should establish a platform for accumulation, settlement and transfer payment of individual accounts of migrant workers' old-age insurance as soon as possible, and activate individual old-age account funds scattered in many places. Finally, we should effectively protect the right of elderly migrant workers to obtain income from homestead and contracted land, so that land can become the last barrier for elderly migrant workers to provide for the aged.