Aging and Implications for Elderly Care Services in the People’s Republic of China

Abstract

Aging can be harmful to an economy over the long run, as an increase in the share of the elderly population reduces both the labor force and output per adult, and increases the social security burden. Policy changes can partly offset the labor squeeze. Possible measures include increased female participation rates, increased flexibility of migration policies, and improved relevance and quality of technical and vocational training to reduce possible skills mismatch. Moreover, it is crucial to establish an efficient and sustainable elderly care system to meet the rising needs of the elderly. Three key areas for policy actions are (i) reforming the elderly care service subsidy scheme to focus more on services and performance, (ii) establishing a standardized care needs assessment system and clear standards of elderly care services, and (iii) developing human resource development strategies targeting care service managers and providers.