MAY 29, 2022
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
Chinese telecom company China Unicom has been accused of age discrimination after it withdrew a graduate job offer from a 24-year-old student because she was “too old”.
The undergraduate, surnamed He, was informed by the company on Wednesday (May 25) that a graduate role she had previously been offered was off the table because she was over the cut-off age of 24.More from AsiaOneRead the condensed version of this story, and other top stories with NewsLite.
He said she is aware of at least five other students who have also been let go by the Guangdong-based company in southern China due to their age.
According to video news website Houlang, China Unicom told He her hiring had violated internal company rules that stipulate undergraduates hired through universities must be under 24 years old.
He had signed work agreements with Unicom’s Heyuan branch during an on-campus recruitment drive by the firm at her university last year.
Before the agreements were finalised the company ran a background check on He and found no issues with her eligibility, leaving He confused by the sudden termination of the role.
“China Unicom took advantage of our status as fresh college graduates,” said He.
“I was born in February, 1998. We are going to graduate soon, but both the autumn and spring campus recruitment periods have come and gone and it’s now almost impossible to find a new job.”
“When I asked to see the recruitment background check documents China Unicom refused, claiming it was a confidential internal file.”
The news report which has since gone viral also revealed the student’s confusion over whether they would receive any redundancy payments. One of the agreements did not indicate compensation for breach of contract, while another identified 5,000 yuan (S$1,026) as the default amount.
“The compensation is not the point,” said He. “But they took advantage of students and we are outraged, especially when some of us had declined offers from other companies to choose China Unicom.”
The story has triggered a wave of criticism of China’s notorious age discrimination in the workplace.
One online commenter said: “What’s wrong with being 24 years old? Anyone that age is definitely a fresh undergraduate. How can they be so ridiculous?”
Another said: “Oh, the age discrimination is no longer set at 35 years old? Has it now been lowered to nearly 25?”
“I’m speechless. Does it mean that our government is asking people to start work even earlier in life and then work longer?”, another quipped.
Age discrimination is a major problem in China, despite the country facing a declining working-age population of people aged between 19 and 59 years old.
The National Bureau of Statistics released a report at the beginning of this year that revealed there were 882 million people of working age in China, down from 894 million in 2021.
In China, the current retirement age for men is 60, 55 for white-collar women workers and 50 their blue-collar counterparts, according to Xinhua News Agency.
In a bid to reverse its declining working population the Chinese government initiated the three-child policy in 2021 and in the same year, planned to raise the official retirement age as part of the 14th Five-Year Plan for economic and social development between 2021 and 2025.
Chinese telecom company China Unicom has been accused of age discrimination after it withdrew a graduate job offer from a 24-year-old student because she was “too old”.
The undergraduate, surnamed He, was informed by the company on Wednesday (May 25) that a graduate role she had previously been offered was off the table because she was over the cut-off age of 24.More from AsiaOneRead the condensed version of this story, and other top stories with NewsLite.
He said she is aware of at least five other students who have also been let go by the Guangdong-based company in southern China due to their age.
According to video news website Houlang, China Unicom told He her hiring had violated internal company rules that stipulate undergraduates hired through universities must be under 24 years old.
He had signed work agreements with Unicom’s Heyuan branch during an on-campus recruitment drive by the firm at her university last year.
Before the agreements were finalised the company ran a background check on He and found no issues with her eligibility, leaving He confused by the sudden termination of the role.
“China Unicom took advantage of our status as fresh college graduates,” said He.
“I was born in February, 1998. We are going to graduate soon, but both the autumn and spring campus recruitment periods have come and gone and it’s now almost impossible to find a new job.”
“When I asked to see the recruitment background check documents China Unicom refused, claiming it was a confidential internal file.”
The news report which has since gone viral also revealed the student’s confusion over whether they would receive any redundancy payments. One of the agreements did not indicate compensation for breach of contract, while another identified 5,000 yuan (S$1,026) as the default amount.
“The compensation is not the point,” said He. “But they took advantage of students and we are outraged, especially when some of us had declined offers from other companies to choose China Unicom.”
The story has triggered a wave of criticism of China’s notorious age discrimination in the workplace.
One online commenter said: “What’s wrong with being 24 years old? Anyone that age is definitely a fresh undergraduate. How can they be so ridiculous?”
Another said: “Oh, the age discrimination is no longer set at 35 years old? Has it now been lowered to nearly 25?”
“I’m speechless. Does it mean that our government is asking people to start work even earlier in life and then work longer?”, another quipped.
Age discrimination is a major problem in China, despite the country facing a declining working-age population of people aged between 19 and 59 years old.
The National Bureau of Statistics released a report at the beginning of this year that revealed there were 882 million people of working age in China, down from 894 million in 2021.
In China, the current retirement age for men is 60, 55 for white-collar women workers and 50 their blue-collar counterparts, according to Xinhua News Agency.
In a bid to reverse its declining working population the Chinese government initiated the three-child policy in 2021 and in the same year, planned to raise the official retirement age as part of the 14th Five-Year Plan for economic and social development between 2021 and 2025.
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