For example, when I first came to Beijing, I was in my twenties. When you take the subway during rush hours, you rarely see middle-aged and elderly people. Later, I was a little older and didn't want to squeeze into the peak subway. It feels uncomfortable for a person in his thirties to be crowded among young people, and he feels that life is a failure. I slowly learned to go to work at the wrong peak, either early or late. The fact that middle-aged and elderly people stagger the rush hour does not mean that the number of middle-aged and elderly people in society has decreased. If you don't believe me, look at the vegetable market or cheap supermarket. Middle-aged and elderly people are bustling, but young people are few.
First, we must first distinguish the macro distribution and micro distribution of people in the workplace and fully understand the structural contradictions of people in the workplace.
The overall ecological distribution of people in the workplace is a combination of "all corners of the country, old, middle-aged and young". From the macro distribution, there are 780 million people in the domestic workplace, which is still a combination of the old, the middle-aged and the young, and the age echelon is formed after 60, 70, 80, 90 and 95.
However, the age ratio is a structural contradiction among enterprises in different industries, different enterprises and different time stages. Some enterprises are post-80s, while others are post-90s.
It is estimated that the industry where the topic is located may be the Internet, high-tech, sales and service industries or enterprises. These industries are characterized by younger teams, with older employees in their thirties. If they don't rise to the management level, most of them will switch to other occupations.
For example, in the catering service industry, waitresses are generally only 30 years old. So, the waiters you meet in the hotel are all beautiful young girls. A 30-year-old woman either switched to administration, logistics, cleaning and kitchen work, or switched to other industries or went back to her hometown, or really went home to be a woman.
Second, the age structure of all walks of life is influenced by many factors.
For example:
Central enterprises and state-owned enterprises in the traditional system have about 70 million employees, and the average age of these groups is over 40. Because for many years, employees of central enterprises and state-owned enterprises have only been unable to enter, their age is aging, and the proportion of introducing new people is low. The average age of the whole industry is getting older and older.
For example, in the old state-owned enterprise where I used to work, the average age of employees was 45 years old. Because there are almost no fresh graduates and young newcomers in the past ten years, the average age of inventory employees has increased year by year. The average age of employees is 45, and the average age of management is about 50.
In many traditional industries or enterprises, because the proportion of old employees is too large, young employees can't get enough supplements, their metabolic function is lost, their workforce is not energetic and innovative, and enterprises are half dead.
The top management also realized that the employees of state-owned enterprises, especially the management, were older, and the three promotions in history were younger. Recently, the younger generation was promoted, and it was proposed that the proportion of post-90 s and post-85 s entering the middle-level team should reach 30% within three years, and the age structure of cadres should be continuously optimized.
However, in emerging industries, the age of the whole industry is relatively young, and some cutting-edge corporate stars can be listed after three or four years of establishment. Where can this new enterprise have old employees? Basically, they are fresh graduates. Therefore, the industry where the subject is located may be such enterprises, and most of them are born after 90, because such enterprises themselves are young.
Third, where did the post-80s and even post-70s employees go?
The growth law of employees is the same as that of people. Career, but also gradually mature and grow. He joined the company at the age of 20, matured at the age of 30, and became a management or even a middle level. At the age of 40, he became a senior, and at the age of 50, he became a group-level senior. This is the general growth law of most large enterprises.
However, the underlying structure of the entire workplace format has undergone great changes. In the past decade, mass entrepreneurship and millions of small and medium-sized enterprises have mushroomed. Especially for start-ups, a single spark can start a prairie fire. According to statistics, the two-year survival period of start-ups is less than 20%, and start-ups are like burning weeds, and they are tall again in the spring breeze.
Small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurial enterprises, including some small enterprises, self-employed, small supermarkets, small shops, vendors, etc., have digested 80% of the employed population. The traditional system of state-owned enterprises, institutions and civil servants has absorbed 20% of the employed population.
For example, in 2020, the number of graduates has reached 9 million, and at the same time, 30 million young people will go to the workplace after graduating from higher vocational colleges, technical secondary schools, junior colleges and high schools. 80% of these young people have entered young small and medium-sized enterprises or start-up companies, which has created the illusion that they are all born after 90, and they are rarely seen after 80.
The post-80s generation has indeed decreased from small and medium-sized enterprises or startups, and there are three main destinations:
First of all, I changed careers. For example, among a large number of waiters and salespeople, a large number of waiters, security guards, intermediaries, salesmen and advertisers are young people. Temporary transition for a few years, all eat youth meals. For example, older people can't work after 30 years old. The boss doesn't need it, and he has no face to do it again. They all switched to traditional companies or started small businesses.
The second is to be eliminated. Internet companies and high-tech companies, for example, have fast technology iteration, great demand for young people and are unfriendly to middle-aged people. People over the age of 35 basically face elimination. Many people can only switch to traditional industries at the age of 35.
The third is to resign and go home. For example, young people in big cities struggle until they are 30 years old and finally give up. There is really no way to buy a house. Many people have gone back to their hometown to find jobs. There are still many women. At the age of 30, many people are pursuing cost performance. It is estimated that they can earn thousands of dollars a month, so they might as well quit their jobs and go home to have children.
In short, the ecological changes in this workplace are getting faster and faster, and many phenomena have become incomprehensible. The rise of the young wave and the aging of the whole society have gradually formed structural contradictions. In some industries, the average age is gradually increasing; In some industries, the average age is gradually decreasing. Both post-80s and post-70s are experiencing a midlife crisis, but in order to shoulder the heavy responsibility of family, they are still active in all walks of life and never escape from the workplace.