Senior residents exercise with the help of a staff member at a social welfare center in Hanshou County of Changde City, central China's Hunan Province, June 20, 2023. (Xinhua/Chen Sihan)
BEIJING, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Some colleges, enterprises and governments in China have moved to cultivate talents qualified to provide elderly care services to meet demands from the fast-growing silver economy in the country, according to a report by Economic Information Daily on Monday.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed that China's population aged 60 and above had reached 297 million by the end of 2023, accounting for 21.1 percent of the country's total population.
The current size of China's silver economy is about 7 trillion yuan (about 964 billion U.S. dollars). It is expected to reach around 30 trillion yuan by 2035, according to China aging research center, a research institution on aging issues.
Incommensurate with the large silver-haired population is the shortage of talents for elderly care services. For example, 4.65 million permanent elderly residents are living in the capital city of Beijing, but only 18,000 certified practitioners are providing elderly care services, according to data from Beijing Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau.
Looking at segments, elderly care nurses, rehabilitation therapists, and health caregivers are most desired by the market. Lack of talents in fields such as age-friendly transformation and renovation, intelligent elderly care, and elderly entertainment and sports is also observed.
Some colleges, enterprises and governments have taken measures to make up the supply-demand gap.
Henan Technician College of Medicine and Health in central China's Henan Province has worked with enterprises to adjust student training plan based on industry needs.
By inviting entrepreneurs and renowned experts to participate in course development and student assessments, talents are truly groomed to meet market demands, according to Wu Yalin, a teacher of the college.
Many local governments have held competitions to help sharpen talents' elderly care service skills. For instance, the National Vocational Skills Competition for Cilvil Affairs Industry and the national rural revitalization vocational skills competition have included contests specialized for elderly care services. Cities like Yantai, Qinhuangdao, and Xi'an have successively held vocational skill competitions related to silver economy. (Edited by Su Dan with Xinhua Silk Road, sudan@xinhua.org)
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