China’s first ever class of elder care degree holders has been in hot demand since graduating this summer, with job vacancies outnumbering jobseekers six to one at some university career fairs, the state-owned Workers’ Daily reported on Monday.

The country faces an acute shortage of trained elder care workers as the population rapidly ages. The number of people in China aged 60 or over hit 296 million in 2023, and this figure is forecast to surpass 400 million by 2035.

In 2019, Chinese authorities announced plans to alleviate this talent gap by encouraging universities to set up dedicated elder care degrees. The long-term goal was to convince at least one high education institution in each province to launch a home economics or elder care program.

Two universities launched the country’s first elder care bachelor’s degrees the following year, and the first batch of students completed their programs this summer. They have not struggled to find job openings.

During the recent graduation season, Shandong Women’s University in eastern China hosted a job fair for its 64 final-year elder care students that attracted 35 elder care institutions offering over 400 positions.

The situation was similar at an elder care management job fair at the Shanghai University of Engineering Science, where there were also more job vacancies than graduating students.

Elder care companies have a severe lack of trained staff. According to the Asian Development Bank, senior care workers in China predominantly have a junior high school education or lower.

To lure these specialist graduates, employers are offering various incentives, Workers’ Daily reported. Some provide higher salaries and comprehensive insurance benefits, while others promise a unique corporate culture and comfortable work environment.

One manager of a Beijing-based elder care institution surnamed Meng told Workers’ Daily that young, trained professionals were highly sought after due to their high professional standards and understanding of advanced care technologies. They also tend to be good at establishing close and trusting relationships with care home residents, Meng added.

Unlike vocational school programs, which primarily train students to provide basic care services, university elder care management programs focus on preparing students to oversee the operations of elder care facilities.

According to Workers’ Daily, most of the students on these programs chose to pursue it because they viewed senior care as a “sunrise industry” that would provide promising career prospects and opportunities for progression.

The number of registered elder care institutions in China stood at 41,000 at the end of 2023, a 0.5% increase compared with the previous year, data from the Ministry of Civil Affairs showed. Between 2020 and 2023, funding for elder care services surged by nearly 70%, from 13.13 billion yuan to 22.32 billion yuan ($1.84 billion to $3.13 billion).

Graduates from Shandong Women’s University’s elder care management program said that the course placed a strong emphasis on practical skills, with classes structured around discussions rather than rote memorization. The university partnered with multiple elder care enterprises to provide internships for the students.

At the Shanghai University of Engineering Science, students started interning at elder care facilities from their first year, moving from entry-level caregiving roles to managerial positions to gain insights into each level of the business.

The question is whether these graduates will stick around. According to Workers’ Daily, the majority of the students at both universities planned to continue their careers in the senior care industry.

But the industry as a whole struggles with staff retention. Meng said that more than half of the young employees at his company stay for less than two years — an issue that many other industry insiders have noted.

Liu Ling, the general manager of Zhongfang Pension, an elder care company based in northwestern China’s Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, told Sixth Tone that the company has a policy of paying the tuition fees of local vocational students who agree to work at their nursing home for at least three years after they graduate.

But many of those students chose to leave after finishing their three years, Liu said, citing a lack of passion for the job, the tough workload, and the lack of respect given to care workers.

To address these issues, Liu and his team are working to foster an employee-centric corporate culture, providing staff with care, financial incentives, and opportunities for advancement. These measures have led to improvements, according to Liu.

“Last year, our turnover rate was less than 5%, whereas we understand that the average turnover rate in the elderly care industry is around 30%,” Liu said.

(Header image: VCG)