- In China, employers prefer to hire workers before they hit the sell-by date of 35.
- Because of the trend, the phrase “Curse of 35” has gone viral on China’s Twitter-like Weibo.
- “You’re too old to work at 35, but too young to retire at 60,” one person wrote, bemoaning the “curse.”
People around the world may fear the gray hairs, crows feet, and stagnation that come with a midlife crisis. But over in China, millennials fear hitting an age milestone now thought to be a death sentence for one’s career: 35.
These anxieties have been summed up in the phrase “Curse of 35,” a concept and hashtag that’s gone viral on China’s Twitter-like Weibo. It refers, specifically, to the average Chinese employer’s preference for hiring workers who haven’t reached the sell-by date of their 35th birthday.
“I am scared that I won’t be able to keep my job, and then I will have to go around looking for a job while dealing with the employer’s temper. It’s just too scary and stressful,” read one person’s post on Weibo lamenting about the “Curse of 35.”
“Life is also tough. I am single and I don’t have enough money to buy a house. Where will I stay when I get old? Landlords don’t really rent to the elderly. And it’s tough trying to earn money when you’re old,” the post continued. “In this life, one can only wander about with no real place to go.”
Many people have echoed similar sentiments on Weibo. Some agree that turning 35 would be a tremendous setback for their career prospects.
“We have entered a vicious cycle,” said one person on China’s Twitter-like Weibo. “You’re too old to work at 35 but too young to retire at 60.”
The situation isn’t helped by the fact that the Chinese government isn’t shy about perpetuating ageism in its drive to get younger people to sign up for civil service jobs. Most entry-level positions in the Chinese civil service are open to those aged between 18 and 35. There have been moves from Beijing to raise the hiring age limit to 40, but that only applies to those who hold master’s or doctoral degrees.
Hector Retamal/AFP via Getty Images
“Since the state is practicing discriminatory hiring, private employers probably feel like they have nothing to worry about in doing the same,” Tianlei Huang, a research fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told Insider.
And it’s not just about finding work — Chinese workers being phased out at what was previously viewed as the prime of their careers means their livelihoods could be seriously affected.
Tania Lennon, an executive director at the International Institute for Management Development, told Insider that the “35-year mark is significant because it is when you enter the peak of your earning capability.” Lennon believes this trend could create “significant problems” in Chinese society if people don’t earn enough to build up their financial reserves.
Already, some have voiced their worries about being forcibly aged out of the workforce.
“I just turned 34 and lost my job three months ago. Will I be able to survive this year?” read a Weibo post.
The “Curse of 35” is an offshoot of China’s grueling “996” work culture
The preference for younger workers is in part due to a workplace culture that requires people to clock long hours on the job. Better known as “996,” Chinese workers who want to get ahead are expected to observe a punishing schedule, working from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week.
As such, employers favor those who are young, healthy, and willing to pull long hours for the hustle life.
“Younger workers are indeed in better health conditions than those who are older, and they tend to have fewer family obligations than those aged above 35, so they can work longer hours,” the Peterson Institute for International Economics’ Huang said.
Quy Huy, an INSEAD professor and the academic director of the institute’s China Initiative, told Insider that companies in China often operate on the misguided assumption that those over 35 “are less flexible in terms of work.” These companies also assume, wrongly, that hitting 35 means a worker will be “less technologically savvy,” and “slower in terms of learning new ways of working,” he added.
A deluge of unemployed youths means employers can cash in and hire younger people for less
Kevin Frayer via Getty Images
And it isn’t just about hiring workhorses. Companies are also hoping to cash in on the record youth unemployment rates. At least one in five Chinese youths was unemployed in the second quarter of 2023, per China’s National Bureau of Statistics.
“At this point in time, youth unemployment is high, so many young workers are willing to work for less. So companies are simply responding to this,” Kelvin Seah, a senior economics lecturer at the National University of Singapore, told Insider.
“Why look for an older worker when you can find a younger worker for a fraction of the cost?” Seah continued.
An aging population means the “Curse of 35” trend may just correct itself — but it’s already hurting millennials
Zhu Xudong/Xinhua via Getty Images
The preference for younger workers comes at a time when China is grappling with a demographic crisis. Falling birth rates saw China’s population shrink for the first time since the early 1960s. China’s population total dropped by 850,000 people last year, per the country’s National Bureau of Statistics.
An aging population suggests that employers aren’t going to be able to rely on a continuous pool of younger workers for much longer. But that could be a blessing in disguise for those hoping to overcome the much-loathed “Curse of 35.”
“Employers have so far been able to discriminate against older workers and replace older workers with younger workers because there is a huge supply of young graduates looking for jobs,” Peterson Institute for International Economics’ Huang said.
“But in ten years, they probably won’t have that luxury anymore. Because the Chinese population is shrinking, and the age groups younger than 35 are shrinking,” Huang added.
The National University of Singapore’s Seah believes that the forces of the free market could help resolve the problem.
Seah told Insider that increased competition for younger workers “will eventually drive up youth wages, making them relatively more expensive to hire.” This, he said would make older workers “relatively less expensive and attractive” to employers.
But even if the “Curse of 35” were to resolve itself by sheer necessity in a couple of decades, one thing is clear — it’s plaguing China and its youths right now.
For the country’s millennials, after having to contend with rough economic conditions and earning too little to accumulate any savings, the “Curse of 35” adds insult to injury. It’s no wonder that so many people are forgoing the hustle life to join a movement to “lie flat,” or just giving up on life and “letting it rot” altogether.
Perhaps a Weibo post about the “curse” sums it up best.
“All we have created is a bunch of aimless people. It is not that 35-year-olds don’t want to work hard. It is because society is rejecting them,” one person wrote.
