As management difficulties in China’s big tech industry intensify due to government regulations and the economic downturn, the number of cases of layoffs of workers in their mid-30s is increasing. /Photo=Bloomberg
Lao Bai (pseudonym, 34), who works at Kuaishou, a short-form platform in China, was shocked to see a fellow developer get fired not long ago. He said, “Seeing a fellow developer who passed his 35th birthday get fired a few months later doesn’t seem like it’s anyone else’s job,” and added, “I can’t help but feel anxious as I think it will happen to me too soon.”
In China, the fear of the so-called ‘curse of 35’, in which people in their mid-30s are easily kicked out of their jobs and find it difficult to find a new job, is spreading throughout society. In particular, in the technology industry (Big Tech), which is experiencing management difficulties due to government regulations and economic recession, the number of jobs for technology workers in their mid-30s is rapidly decreasing.
On the 23rd (local time), the Financial Times (FT), citing sources familiar with the internal situation, including current and former employees, reported that China’s Kuaishou is conducting a layoff program to fire employees in their mid-30s or older.
In relation to this, Kuaishou did not provide any explanation. However, the number of employees at this company, which reached 28,000 at the end of 2021, was confirmed to have decreased by 16% as of June last year. Many of those targeted for layoffs are employees in their mid-30s or older. The FT reported that tens of thousands of jobs have been lost not only in Kuaishou but also in China’s technology industry over the past few months.
It is a known fact that China’s big tech industry prefers young, unmarried workers. There is a deep prejudice that the older you get, the more difficult it is to keep up with the latest technology and the more expensive it is to not be able to work long hours. The photo is a view of Tencent headquarters in Shenzhen, China./AFPBBNews=News 1
It is a known fact that China’s big tech industry prefers young, unmarried workers. There is a deep prejudice that the older you get, the more difficult it is to keep up with the latest technology and the more expensive it is to not be able to work long hours.
Executives at China’s big tech companies have publicly stated that they prefer young employees. Ma Huateng, chairman of Internet service provider Tencent, announced plans to restructure 10% of the company’s managers in 2019, explaining, “More passionate young talent and new colleagues will take over those positions.”
Li Yanhong, founder and CEO of Baidu, China’s largest portal site, also said in an open letter, “We will make the company younger by promoting more employees born after 1980 and 1990.”
This perception is deeply rooted not only in management but throughout the organization. A former sales manager who worked at Meituan, known as the ‘Chinese version of the delivery people’, said, “Most people in their 20s and 30s are full of energy and have a strong will to sacrifice themselves for the company. However, when they become parents and their bodies start to age, ‘996 “It’s hard to keep up with the schedule,” he said. ‘996’ refers to the infamous work pattern in China’s big tech industry of working six days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
In fact, the average age of most Chinese big tech employees is relatively young. According to MyMai, a Chinese professional networking site, as of 2020, the average age of employees at TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, and e-commerce company Pinduoduo is 27 years old. The average ages of employees at Kuaishou and ride-hailing platform Didi Chuxing were 28 and 33, respectively. This is much younger than the average age of all workers in China, which is 38.3 years old.
*2023 as of June/Graphic source=Financial Times
The FT pointed out that the management difficulties in the Big Tech industry due to government regulations and the economic downturn are factors that further encourage the ‘curse of 35’. A manager in the Big Tech industry said, “As China’s technology industry was growing rapidly before the COVID-19 pandemic, the government began to crack down,” and added, “We are now reducing costly management layers.”
Big tech industry workers in their mid-30s are having a hard time finding new jobs after being laid off. According to a survey by Chinese recruitment platform Zhaopin, 87% of developers said they were “seriously worried about being fired or not being able to find a new job after the age of 35.” There is no legal protection. Chinese labor law prohibits employers from discriminating on the grounds of ethnicity, gender, or religion, but does not specify age.
The FT pointed out that the bigger problem is that the ‘curse of 35’ is not limited to the technology industry. China also limits civil service examination eligibility to those under 35 years of age. The eligibility age for job postings for employees in service sectors such as restaurants and hotels is also gradually decreasing.
[저작권자 @머니투데이, 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]
