Working until you drop: the elderly of rural China
Pang LiHua; Brauw, A. de; Rozelle, S.
China Journal 52: 1
2004
ISSN/ISBN: 1324-9347 DOI: 10.2307/4127885Document Number: 261575
The overall goal of our paper is to understand what drives the rural elderly's decisions to work, since in the absence of formal pension plans, work is an important part of their strategy. We examine both formal employment-work on the land, off the land for a wage, and earnings from the household's family-run business, and informal work done in the home, taking care of household chores or tending grandchildren. We discovered that almost all people between 50 and 60 years, and over two-thirds of those between 60 and 70 years - or virtually everyone who is in good health - are still engaged in formal labour, mostly in farming, but more than 20 per cent also work off the land. While the care of the elderly by their children remains important and affects the labour supply decisions of the elderly, we find evidence that society's traditional family-based social security system is changing, making the income earned by the elderly increasingly necessary.