A Chinese grocery store's ad says only Under-30s are allowed

No job for Above 30! It’s Brutal out there.

A job ad from a Chinese grocery store favouring youthful cashiers aged 18 to 30 has caused a stir online, with older folks backlashing the Ad for promoting ageism in the already struggling job market. The unemployment rate in China is 5.3 percent amid a downturn in the economy.

The issue here is that, the huge population of job seekers are mostly above 30, they have the pressure of their family on them, but still aggressive hiring of young people lowers the chances of them being employed if they cross their 30th birthday. It's like 30th Birthday Gift- Unemployment

Shockingly, As a wave of college graduates prepares to enter the job market, the 1.4 billion-strong nation ‘China’ is wrestling with a huge rate of high youth unemployment. Yet, it's not just the younger generation feeling the heat; individuals over 30 are also facing relentless challenges in their job hunt.

Social media is buzzing with a hot topic about ageism and about the perils of "middle-age unemployment”, with recruiters favouring Fresh Graduates, now people are wondering if they need to sneak in with fake IDs just to get a cashier job!

This all bashing of Ageism promoted by that Chinese grocery ad started with one Weibo user in the city of Ningbo in the eastern province of Zhejiang, posted a picture of a supermarket ad seeking the cashiers aged between 18 and 30 and wrote "It's not easy.”

The post on chinese social media platform has since garnered more than 140 million views and 41,000 comments. Some comments were extremely emotional, showcasing the harsh reality living in this economy or saying ‘surviving.’

One user on Weibo posted, “I am 33 this year and have been looking for a job for three years.”

"Do you think it is easy to find a job now?" the Weibo netizen wrote.

"Was it difficult to find a job when you were over 35 before?" asked another Weibo user, with an accompanying emoji icon representing bitterness.

"I'm 29," wrote one commenter on the X-like Weibo. "I've been laid off three times since I graduated. Now, no one has replied to my resume even if I (write) I am unmarried and do not have a child."

This trend, widely known as the "Curse of 35," sparked quite the buzz. Despite the absence of a specific law against age discrimination, last year state media called out employers for their "discriminatory" hiring habits, like preferring younger folks.

However, China is preparing to incrementally raise its ‘strict’ retirement age, currently set at 60 for men and even lower for women, making it one of the world's lowest. Women may retire as early as 55 from white-collar positions, and even earlier, at 50, if employed in factory jobs.

Also Read about China's downturning economy: Is China’s Age of Global Domination Coming To An End? (vygrnews.com)

While there have been hints of planned phased increases in state media, China has not formally announced changes to its retirement age or provided specific national plans to encourage extended employment.