Hunan**Quan**Reporter Yu Miao Guo Chen.
In January this year, the General Office of the People's Republic of China issued the "Opinions on Developing the Silver Economy and Improving the Well-being of the Elderly", and China's first policy document named after the "Silver Economy" was issued.
According to public data, by the end of 2023, China's population aged 60 and above will reach 296.97 million, accounting for 21 of the country's population1%。The silver economy is the sum of a series of economic activities such as providing products or services to the elderly and preparing for the aging stage, involving a wide range, a long industrial chain, diversified business formats and great potential.
In the past few days, the reporter visited many places in Hunan and found that from towns and villages to urban communities, from dining, learning, entertainment to door-to-door services and other aspects, new products, new models and new formats launched around pension services have been emerging, giving birth to the accelerated development of the silver economy.
During the interview, the reporter also observed that from pension to old age, how to balance industry and career in the silver economy, and empower high-quality elderly life while tapping the huge market potential, it is necessary to continue to innovate ideas and methods in exploration.
Fireside talk mulberry hemp——
The service level is gradually improving, and the potential of the rural silver hair market is to be developed.
After the Lantern Festival, there is still laughter and excitement in the Tongren Village Pension Service Center in Yuqing Street, Leiyang City. In the chess and card room, reading room, and recreation room, the elderly are carrying out various cultural and recreational activities. "It's a place where you can chat, play, and bring ingredients to cook together. An elderly resident who comes to the elderly care service center every day to "report" said with a smile on his face.
Leiyang Yuqing Street Tongren Village Pension Service Center. Photo courtesy of the interviewee).
Tongren Village Elderly Care Service Center covers an area of about 700 square meters, with a total investment of 900,000 yuan. More than 2,000 books are collected in the reading room, which basically meets the reading needs of the elderly; There are more than 300 kinds of small commodities in the convenience store, which provide discounts below the market price; The medical room is equipped with daily medicines such as colds, anti-inflammatory, and hemostasis, so that you can solve "minor ailments" without leaving the village. "Compared with one-way interactions such as listening to the radio and watching TV, the rural 'silver-haired people' have a new place for the elderly that integrates day care, entertainment, shopping, medical care and other functions. Zhong Shuren, secretary of the general party branch of Tongren Village, told reporters.
Tongren Village Pension Service Center is one of the "1+X" mutual pension service demonstration sites in Leiyang City. "1+X" is to establish a pension activity center at the village level to provide a one-stop pension service environment for the elderly in the village. At present, Leiyang City has built 209 village-level "1+x" mutual aid elderly care demonstration sites, covering 30 towns (streets) in the city, benefiting nearly 200,000 rural elderly people.
From the past rural "watching" pension to today's mutual aid "living and entertaining" ecology, the extension and expansion of rural elderly care service space allows the rural elderly to dine and entertain together, and can also enjoy convenient shopping and medical care, and the "loneliness" of the rural elderly group has been gradually eliminated.
During the visit, the reporter also found that the pension service center has enriched the life of the elderly in rural areas, but the silver economy in rural areas is far from forming scale and efficiency. Taking convenience stores as an example, although they have greatly met the needs of daily shopping, the goods sold are still in the stage of daily goods, and the "online shopping" of old people in cities and towns is still to be developed in the countryside.
In addition, most of the services enjoyed by the elderly in rural areas are provided by community volunteers or a small number of staff, and the staffing ratio and professionalism need to be improved. The introduction of professional pension institutions is less, and the development space of the rural pension market has yet to be activated.
The "nursery for the elderly" at the door of the house——
The service form is flexible and diversified, and the urban community pension is newly explored.
In the morning, as soon as the sky was bright, in the community canteen of the construction community of the square street in Yuhu District, Xiangtan City, the staff began to wash, cut, stir-fry, and cook rice, preparing to welcome the elderly people who came to eat.
The community cafeteria at the door of my house has delicious meals, **affordable, and I don't have to buy vegetables, cook, or wash dishes, I come every day. Ding Xiaoyu, a resident of the Yuhu District community, is a frequent visitor to the community canteen.
The reporter visited many places and found that compared with rural areas, urban elderly groups hope to have convenient, flexible, and can be fully integrated with home life pension services.
For example, the most common problem of eating in daily life is the worry of many elderly people. In recent years, many places have opened "canteens for the elderly" and "silver restaurants" to help the elderly solve the problem of eating. In 2024, Hunan Province will include "building 500 meal service points for the elderly" into the ten key livelihood facts.
The reporter learned from the interview that most of these canteens are facing the problem of not being able to balance economic and social benefits. Chen Ling, the person in charge of the operation of the silver-haired restaurant in Changsha, which has opened three community canteens for the elderly, said that at present, the three restaurants have more elderly people, and if there is no policy support, they are still facing operating pressure.
The monthly turnover reached 550,000 yuan to make a profit. Chen Ling introduced, taking the silver-haired restaurant in Dongguashan Community, Yunan Street, Tianxin District, Changsha City as an example, about 330,000 yuan was invested before and after, and the monthly turnover was about 40,000 yuan, which was basically the same as the operating costs.
The community canteen is a project to benefit the people, we will not increase the price, and in the future, we will expand the source of customers and open up all age groups to eat. Chen Ling said. At present, the silver-haired restaurant has added lunch care services to the meals of the student group, hoping to help the long-term stable operation of the elderly restaurant.
Peng Shuyuan, the operator of the construction community canteen in Yuhu District and the general manager of Hunan Dehe Health Care Service, introduced: "The canteen provides a buffet, 8 dishes and 1 soup per meal, and the elderly over 60 years old will be charged 8 yuan per meal after financial subsidies, and other diners will be 12 yuan per meal, and the public consumption will feed the elderly service in the canteen." ”
Some localities are also exploring the expansion and upgrading of idle buildings into elderly care service places that provide learning, entertainment and other functions to further help reduce service costs.
In recent years, in order to promote the construction of the pension service system, Yuhu District has contracted many idle assets such as the original office building of the Provincial Construction Third Company, the Xiangtan Metrology Institute, the former Yanzhu Village Office Building, and the former Municipal Office Building to the operator below the market.
The relevant person in charge of the Yuhu District Civil Affairs Bureau told reporters that in 2023, the local government will build 1 district-level university for the elderly, 9 community schools for the elderly such as Sanyijing, Nanpanling, and Gaoling, with a class fee of 120 yuan to 300 yuan per semester, and more than 2,100 fee-paying students, more than 5,000 free students for public welfare courses, and more than 20,000 elderly people.
It's hard to find a place in class! It is understood that the community school makes full use of the community children's home to create a "morning and evening" position, children participate in painting, eloquence, handicrafts and other interest classes, and the elderly learn vocal music, body, dance, calligraphy and other courses in the adjacent class, and the "big and small" friends become classmates in the next class, which not only makes the mood happy, but also enriches the spiritual life.
The elderly and children in the Changsha silver-haired restaurant are dining together. Photo courtesy of the interviewee).
Let's talk about the sunset red——
The intelligent upgrade of elderly products, all parties in the industry still need to deal with new challenges.
Xiaodu Xiaodu, will it rain today?", "How to make Coke chicken wings", "*Song "Return from Shooting"....During the Spring Festival just past, Xiao He bought a New Year's gift for his grandfather with reduced eyesight - intelligent voice audio. Within a few days, Grandpa He became "good friends" with "Xiaodu".
Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has released two batches of products for the elderly to promote the catalog, mainly focusing on 631 high-quality products such as clothing and apparel for the elderly, accompanying robots, intelligent monitors, and multi-functional nursing beds. The reporter learned that the health service robot "Super Xiaokang" launched by Hunan Super Robot can measure blood pressure, heart rate, blood sugar, uric acid, total cholesterol, blood oxygen, body temperature, ECG and other 8 signs on a daily basis, and also has a number of functions such as consultation, medication reminder, health management, remote monitoring, emergency distress, etc., and even square dance, health ** and other resources, so as to achieve entertainment and health.
The elderly products continue to be intelligently upgraded, and the school's teachers have also adjusted the training courses accordingly. Luo Linbin, principal of Hunan Jincheng Vocational Training School, said that the school has opened more than 10 professional courses for the elderly, such as basic daily life nursing, chronic disease management, and life education, covering from physical basic care to spiritual relief. With the rise of smart bracelets, call systems and other elderly care products, teachers have also increased the content of age-appropriate transformation, assistive devices for the elderly, smart health care products and artificial intelligence AI, "vocational schools should develop flexibly with market changes." Luo Linbin said.
It is estimated that the current scale of China's silver economy is about 7 trillion yuan, accounting for about 6% of GDP. By 2035, the scale of the silver economy will reach 30 trillion yuan, accounting for about 10% of GDP.
The strong demand for elderly care has boosted the housekeeping industry for the elderly at home.
The monthly salary of the nursing nanny is in the range of 4,000 yuan to 5,000 yuan, which is determined by the self-care of the elderly. In order to refine the service category, the company also subdivides ordinary nannies and elderly care nannies. According to the relevant person in charge of Changsha Swan to Home Housekeeping Service, in recent years, the orders for elderly care in Changsha stores have increased significantly, and more families choose nursing nannies to make up for the professional shortcomings of home care. "Now many aunts only accept orders for elderly care and nursing! The person in charge said.
However, industry insiders have also expressed concerns about the domestic service industry for home-based care. The reporter learned that most of the service personnel engaged in caring for the elderly nanny are middle-aged and elderly women over 50 years old, although the salary level has increased, but the "five insurances and one housing fund" and other guarantees have not kept up.
On the one hand, the mobility of elderly workers is strong, and many small and medium-sized domestic companies are still in the growth stage, and have not formed a mature, complete and stable employment mechanism, resulting in the loss of the interests of employees. On the other hand, the "five insurances and one housing fund" is not very attractive to elderly practitioners, for example, most elderly nannies do not need maternity insurance.
At present, the retirement age of workers in China is 60 years old for men, 50 years old for female workers, and 55 years old for female cadres. According to the relevant regulations, people who have reached retirement age cannot sign labor contracts and cannot determine labor relations. Lawyer You Shansheng, a senior partner of Hunan Guangji Law Firm, reminded that although elderly workers cannot sign labor contracts, they can sign labor contracts, and they should pay attention to the work content, remuneration, medical treatment, labor insurance benefits and other issues during the employment period stipulated in the agreement, and can reduce the risk of damage by purchasing commercial insurance such as employer's liability insurance or personal accident insurance.