China is currently facing one of the most challenging job environments in several generations. Young university graduates find their academic qualifications rapidly depreciating, making it difficult for them to secure employment. Even workers in their early thirties are worried about being laid off at any moment. “35 years old” has now become a curse for employment, especially in the tech industry.
The moment a 35-year-old colleague was laid off, 34-year-old Lao Bai realized for the first time that his position on the short video application “Kuaishou” was precarious. “I was both shocked and anxious. I realized our situations were very similar, and the same thing could happen to me very soon,” Lao Bai told the Financial Times.
Sure enough, just a few months away from his 35th birthday, this developer was also laid off, becoming another victim of Kuaishou’s restructuring. Five current and former employees familiar with the restructuring plan told the Financial Times that Kuaishou is eliminating junior employees around the age of 35. Lao Bai was informed that his layoff was part of the company’s overall downsizing plan. The company declined to comment.
According to information published by the career social networking site Maimai in 2021, the research conducted by the Maimai Data Research Institute shows that large internet companies in China can be considered “young” companies, with employee average ages ranging from 27 to 33. Most companies have an average age of 30 and below, such as JD.com, Meituan, and Xiaomi. The average age of employees at Alibaba is 31, Tencent is 29, Baidu is 30, and ByteDance and Pinduoduo have the lowest average age of 27. The average age at Kuaishou is 28.
Amid economic slowdown and regulatory concerns, the tech industry has been witnessing waves of layoffs. Kuaishou’s latest financial report shows an 88% drop in its stock price since its listing in Hong Kong in 2021. The company reduced its overall workforce by 16% from December 2021 (when it had 28,000 employees) to June 2023.
The “curse of 35 years old” is a major source of anxiety for tech industry workers. A survey by the recruitment platform Lagou.net last year found that 87% of software engineers are “seriously worried” about being laid off or unable to find new jobs after the age of 35.
Once unemployed, people over 35 find it very difficult to secure new employment. A 38-year-old software engineer recently laid off by a large ride-hailing group expressed that finding a new job is challenging. “The job market is very bad, even worse than last year, especially for older engineers like me,” he said.
According to Reuters, Zhu Tian, an economics professor at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) in Shanghai, stated, “We are in an economic recession. If you talk to 10 people, seven of them will say, ‘We’ve had a really bad year.'”
The “curse of 35 years old” originally stemmed from social media to describe rumors of older employees being laid off by large tech companies, but the phenomenon has become increasingly common. Many online job postings explicitly specify that applicants must not exceed this age. Companies generally believe that older employees, due to family responsibilities, are less willing to endure long working hours.
The crackdown by the Chinese Communist government has led to tens of thousands of layoffs in the tech industry in recent months, with relatively older employees being particularly vulnerable. Starting in November 2020, the CCP began to curb the power of internet giants, starting with the suspension of Ant Group’s initial public offering (IPO). Over the following 18 months, the Chinese government continued to crackdown across industries from technology and finance to gaming, entertainment, and education.
Private enterprises are the largest source of employment, contributing over 80% of job opportunities in China. Companies facing regulatory pressures have implemented large-scale layoffs, leading to not only a significant number of employees being laid off but also making it harder for young Chinese people to find employment.
Doug Guthrie, executive director of China Initiatives at Arizona State University’s Thunderbird School of Global Management, previously told CNN that the job losses in the Chinese tech industry were “self-inflicted” by the CCP.
What is even more concerning is that as the economic situation in China continues to deteriorate, recruitment ages across various industries are becoming even “younger.”
Recently, a supermarket in China released a job advertisement seeking cashiers aged between 18 and 30, sparking millions of views and tens of thousands of comments on Weibo. Some netizens remarked that people over 30 are no longer wanted even in supermarkets. This recruitment ad signals the elimination of those over 30+.
“Although this hammer hasn’t hit me yet, seeing this still feels really uncomfortable. Many job listings now specify ’35+ need not apply.’ Are they telling 35-year-olds to disappear? This social issue is becoming outrageous,” one netizen said. Another Weibo user mentioned being 33 years old and searching for a job for three years, reflecting the bitter reality of unemployment in Chinese society.