Management of human resources development in the context of aging population in China

Abstract

Nowadays, the aging of population has become a major social problem facing the world, as well as a strategic issue concerning the economy, social development and population policies of various countries. Although China's population aging appeared relatively late, due to the family planning policy in the 1970s. In 2000, the number of people over 60 years old in China reached 10.46% of the total population, and we officially entered an aging society. By the end of 2021, the population over 60 years old in China has reached 18.9% of the total population, and the elderly over 65 years old has reached 14.2% of the total population. China has entered a deep aging society according to the classification criteria set by the United Nations. Aging population will bring a series of far-reaching effects on economic and social development. From the macro point of view, aging population will lead to the reduction of labor resources, labor participation rate, savings rate, consumption demand, social support burden, as well as the increase of financial pension, medical security expenditure and other problems. From the micro point of view - population aging involves the income of the elderly after retirement, family pension mode, pension, savings, consumption, medical treatment, health care, nursing and other issues. On the one hand, we should correctly recognize that population aging is an inevitable result of demographic transition and a symbol of social progress. On the other hand, we should also be clear that China, as a developing country, has entered the threshold of an aging society when the national income level is still low, which brings us a severe challenge to deal with the impact of aging and solve the aging problem. To solve the problem of aging population structure, many solutions have been put forward in the academic and political circles, such as extending the retirement age, encouraging the birth of children, and introducing foreign young labor force. Europe's experience suggests that immigration policy can alleviate the aging situation to a certain extent, but only to treat the symptoms, and there will be a series of other problems such as aboriginal unemployment increase, ethnic contradictions, crime rate rise. However, it is difficult to change the policy in a short time when the fertility intention is reduced to a certain extent, and it still takes some time for the newborn to grow into the labor force. Therefore, the World Health Organization has put forward the proposal of active aging, in which the elderly should no longer be a burden to society but should actively participate and become an important part of social development. Sustainable development theory tells that in order to maintain the stability of the economy and the sustainable progress of the society, it is necessary to ensure that the sum of all resources does not decrease in the development process. When natural resources are exhausted, on the one hand, we should actively seek alternative resources, on the other hand, reduce the consumption of natural resources through new technologies. However, when the aging population leads to the shortage of human resources, it is necessary to improve the quality of human resources, and then improve the utilization rate of human resources. Although the elderly are no longer in the front line of production, their knowledge, skills and experience can still be exploited and utilized as valuable resources. The development of elderly human resources is of great significance for China to successfully cope with the impact of population aging and maintain the sustainable development of economy and society. This paper studies the development of human resources for the elderly in the context of population aging, focuses on the analysis of the reasons for the development of human resources for the elderly from multiple perspectives, and finally puts forward countermeasures and suggestions to solve the existing problems in the development of human resources for the elderly. The work is devoted to the problem of deepening the theoretical foundations, improving methodological provisions and developing practical recommendations for the formation and improvement of the effectiveness of the human resources management strategy in the context of the aging of the nation in the conditions of globalization transformations in China. The scientific novelty of the obtained results lies in the conceptual substantiation of the problem of forming a strategy for managing the development of human resources in the context of the aging of the nation in China in the conditions of globalization transformations, improving the theoretical and methodological apparatus for assessing the influence of socio-demographic factors on the dynamics of economic development. Thus, approaches to the interpretation of the category of human resource development in the context of population aging in China were analyzed and summarized. Its author's definition is proposed as the specific ability of society to support and, using implicit and explicit compensators if necessary, to restore and improve its own structure in the context of social strata according to a number of significant parameters, in particular with regard to the level of economic activity, as well as educational, professional and competence training of the population, on the basis of which the proportions of the production of human intellectual and physical capital are optimized, the intensification and continuity of production is ensured, and the level of public welfare increases. It was found that the increase in the number of the elderly population in China in 1990-2020 by more than 10 million people is due not only to a complex of natural factors, but also to an imperfect and insufficiently systematic and consistent state economic policy. To control rapid population growth, China introduced family planning policies in the 1970s, which also led to a rapid decline in China's total fertility rate and accelerated China's entry into an aging society in the year 2000. Through analysis, it was found that Aging China has the following characteristics: 1. A large number of elderly population. By the end of 2021, the number of elderly people over the age of 65 in China exceeded 200 million, accounting for 14.2% of the total population; 2. Speed of aging. It took only 21 years for the proportion of elderly people over 65 to rise from 7% to 14% of China's total population. 3. Population aging is ahead of economic development, and China's current level of economic development is lower than that of developed countries; 4. The development of aging is unbalanced between regions; 5. Between the city and the village there are differences in the degree of aging of the population. In the future, China's aging population will show an accelerating trend and will peak around 2055, when the elderly population over 65 will be about 450 million, accounting for about 35.6% of the total old population. According to the China-wide Survey on the Living Conditions of the Urban and Rural Elderly, 30 percent of the elderly have good health, and the health of the urban elderly is better than that of the rural elderly (r=0.7666). This opens up more space for the development of the human resources of the elderly in China. The industry of the primary sector (all branches of agriculture) still remains the main field of work for the elderly, but due to the physical condition of human resources, the quality of such work is lost. The proportion of elderly people aged 60-64 who are employed in tertiary sector industries (education, engineering technology, financial and international activities, tourism, transport) is relatively high (37%), and most of them work at least 8 hours a day . However, there are still some challenges in the development of human resources in the context of an aging nation in China: 1. The level of education of the elderly is low, and the offer of educational resources for the elderly is seriously insufficient (up to 8 places of demand are observed for 1 place of supply); 2. Lack of special national planning, lack of political support from employers, which significantly reduces employment opportunities; 3. Outdated conceptual policy regarding the support of the elderly, which is based on the age discrimination of employees and assigns the elderly a place "at the bottom of the social ladder). It has been proven that the priorities of the socio-economic policy of the development of human resources in the context of the aging of the nation should be: increasing the duration and quality of life (r=0.813); formation of a strategic concept of human resources development in the context of the aging of the nation in China (r=0.763); ensuring equal rights and opportunities of the elderly in the formation of production potential (r=0.649); It was stated that the intensification of the processes of economic growth requires improvement of the mechanism and analytical tools for assessing the impact of demographic factors on the dynamics of the country's development using econometric methods. Demographic forecasting and modeling, in particular the processes of population aging, is important, thanks to which it is possible to formulate effective strategies for socio-demographic development, ensure income guarantees for people of different age categories, improve the state of health and increase the well-being of all citizens. It was determined that the priority is to involve the elderly in full-fledged economic reproduction through the intensification of the accumulation of human (intellectual) capital and the rationalization of the structure of expenses for social support of the elderly and investments in socio-economic development. The conclusions and results obtained during the research provided an opportunity to verify the hypotheses laid in its basis, and their complex generalization, in turn, provides options for making a number of proposals that have not only theoretical, but also practical value. The practical significance of the obtained results lies in the deepening and systematization of the theoretical achievements of economic science devoted to the topic of management of human resources development in the context of aging population in China. The theoretical propositions proposed in the work can be used for further theoretical and empirical research related to aging processes. The results can be applied in the management activities of ministries and departments, local self-government bodies, which take care of regulation of social relations in society, development and implementation of social policy. The conclusions and other materials of the study should be applied in the development of the activities of gerontological centers, universities of the third age, etc.