China Center Slidicle: Middle-Aged Women in China—An Unutilized Workforce Opportunity?

The United Nations forecasts that China’s population will increase by 47.4 million between 2015 and 2025, yet during this same period its working-age population will decrease by 12.4 million. Despite the potential economic drag of a shrinking workforce, Chinese labor regulations stipulate that female workers should retire at the age of 50 – 10 years earlier than males. The Chinese government set up this regulation in 1978 to protect women allegedly due to their being considered "physically weaker" than men.

In this slide-formatted report, The Conference Board Senior Economist Janet Hao analyzes this "unutilized workforce opportunity" and what it means for MNCs in China.