Starting from the supply-demand relationship, eliminate "age discrimination"
2025-06-27
By the end of 2024, the population aged 60 and above in China will exceed 300 million, and the silver haired group will become an important force in the consumer market. However, in reality, silver hair consumption has repeatedly suffered from implicit "age discrimination", exposing the lack of protection for the consumption rights of the elderly population. The obstruction of elderly consumption not only affects individual quality of life and social participation, but also weakens domestic demand and restricts the healthy development of the silver haired economy. At the institutional supply level, it is necessary to accurately identify the needs of the elderly and balance the protection of their rights and interests with market risks. Legislation can be passed to ensure equal rights for the elderly in consumption areas such as culture, tourism, sports, and shopping. For example, documents such as the "Regulations on Elderly Care Services in Shanghai" contain anti discrimination provisions, clarify punishment measures, ensure law enforcement efforts, and constrain the natural selection tendency of the market. For example, Beijing's "Filial Piety Insurance" and other insurance companies have innovated the elderly consumption insurance system, gradually building a collaborative mechanism of "government support+insurance sharing+enterprise participation+organizational sharing", dispersing market risks, sharing market responsibilities, and making businesses "dare to serve" and the elderly "willing to consume". To eliminate age discrimination, we need to focus on adjusting the supply and demand relationship. The reason why travel agencies, gyms, and other consumer venues exclude elderly consumers is due to the common consideration of "not making money, high responsibility". To solve this problem, we need to adjust the supply and demand relationship in elderly consumption. By guiding policies such as industry, finance, and taxation, we can stimulate social vitality, encourage enterprise innovation, provide more elderly friendly products, broaden service channels, meet the diverse needs of the elderly, and form a win-win situation between supply and demand. To serve elderly consumers, the level of specialization should be improved. Strengthen talent support, accelerate the cultivation of professional service teams proficient in the needs of the elderly, improve the skill standards of tourism leaders, elderly care, financial advisors and other positions, and enhance service standardization. Establish sound professional standards and regulations, such as focusing on pain points such as "mandatory shopping" and "overbearing terms", and promote the development of service standards for segmented areas of elderly consumption, so that professional services have standards to follow. Can public services fill the gap in the market? In China, elderly care services are still mainly provided by families. We should promote the sinking of elderly care resources to communities and encourage grassroots governments and social organizations to jointly build elderly friendly communities. Through mechanisms such as priority allocation of public rental housing for the elderly and linkage of legal aid, individual risks can be reduced, service fairness and accessibility can be achieved, and elderly care can be effectively promoted from a "family matter" to a "social matter". To eliminate age discrimination, we also need to refresh our mindset and establish a positive view of aging. Ensuring that elderly people have no barriers to consumption, no discrimination in services, and no reduction in their rights and interests is not only a requirement for market perfection, but also a benchmark for social civilization. The whole society should work together to promote the value orientation of "enjoying and contributing to the elderly", and build an inclusive, respectful, and diverse social cognition. (New Society)
Edit:Luo yu Responsible editor:Zhou shu
Source:people.cn
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