China’s first generation of migrant workers played an integral role in the country's transformation from an impoverished nation to an economic powerhouse.

At 53, Guan Junling is too old to get hired at factories anymore. But for migrant workers like her, not working is not an option.

For decades, they have come from farming villages to find work in the cities. Toiling in sweatshops and building apartment complexes they could never afford to live in, they played a vital role in China’s transformation into an economic powerhouse.

As they grow older, the first generation of migrant workers is struggling to find jobs in a slowing economy. Many are financially strapped, so they have to keep looking.

“There is no such thing as a ‘retirement’ or ‘pensions’ for rural people. You can only rely on yourself and work,” Guan said. “When can you stop working? It’s really not until you have to lie in bed and you can’t do anything.”

She now relies on housecleaning gigs, working long days to squirrel away a little money in case of a health emergency. Migrant workers can get subsidized health care in their hometowns, but they have little or no coverage elsewhere. If Guan needs to go to hospital in Beijing, she has to pay out of pocket.

As China’s population ages, so are its migrant workers. About 85 million were over 50 in 2022, the latest year for which data is available, accounting for 29% of all migrant workers and up from 15% a decade earlier. With limited or no pensions and health insurance, they need to keep working.

  • @ChicoSuaveEnglish
    -30•9 months ago

    I think there is a disconnect between classical superpowers and modern superpowers. Modern nations use the US and Chinese model of using people as a resource to build as fast as possible with minimal ethics. Classical superpowers, like European nations, use a slow growth and inclusive model that includes a lot of people but takes hundreds of years to establish.

    Modern superpowers use capitalism. Classical use a more socially inclusive approach.

    • circuscriticEnglish
      30•9 months ago

      Is there a bad history community on Lemmy? If so, someone should crosspost this comment.

      • @TheFonzEnglish
        6•9 months ago

        No, I think what they are trying to say is that European nation building runs further back so they have more socialized services or something like that. I have no idea.

    • @[email protected]English
      10•9 months ago

      Ah yes, let’s disregard centuries of occupation accompanied by brutal exploitation of the local population, dismantling and dismemberment of native social hierarchy and ‘population transfer’ for the benefit of the few white man and their collaborators. But hey, they built churches and trains and shit! Let’s conveniently forget how countries that barely got their independence had their chance at economical and political sovereignty hijacked from the same colonial masters now dressed in business suit.

      Just go fuck yourself.