I come from a peasant family, my parents both work hard. I have just started working in society and my salary is a little over 3,000. I am not good at talking.

When they reach middle age, they work hard in the city for food and clothing and for their children to have a better life. Construction workers, sanitation workers, cleaners, dishwashers... Due to a lack of skills and illiteracy, most of them do the hardest, most tiring, and dirtiest jobs in the city; they are older, and they often have to suffer when they are employed. Employers do not recruit people who are "women over 40 years old and men over 50 years old" because of age discrimination. They have low requirements for wages and working environment and even lower requirements for social security. Many of them want to work in the city until They "work as long as they can" and then return to the countryside to retire. Children are their hope. Many people place their hopes for a better life on the next generation, and are most afraid of the embarrassment of "all the members of the family are working." Let's get closer to "" migrant workers. ■""Migrant workers are not picky about their jobs, but they still have to face the worries of "old age, lack of skills, and difficulty finding jobs." On the morning of July 4, the highest temperature was 35 degrees Celsius, and the sun was blazing. On Beiyuan Road in Changping District, Sister Lu, a sanitation worker wearing long clothes, long trousers and a sun hat, was cleaning the garbage on the roadside. Sister Lu is 44 years old, her hometown is in Heilongjiang, and she has been working as a sanitation worker since 2000. "I work 8 hours a day. The work is not complicated. It's just about cleaning this section of the road." Calculating, she needs to walk 12 kilometers without stopping every day at work. "Working in sanitation, the working conditions are poor and the income is not high. Young people don't like to come here. It's older migrant workers like us who do it." Sister Lu said that her basic salary is 1 yuan, plus a daily vacuuming subsidy, etc. Subsidy can earn about 1 yuan a month. Since the late 1980s, a large number of rural surplus laborers have moved to cities to work. More than 20 years have passed, and now the young and strong migrant workers are generally in their late fifties. According to statistics, "" (female over 40 years old, male over 50 years old) migrant workers like Sister Lu currently account for about 40% of the total number of migrant workers, more than 100 million people. Compared with the younger generation of migrant workers, "" migrant workers are not picky about their jobs, and most of them do the dirtiest, most tiring, and hardest work in the city. However, as they grow older, they are facing the troubles of "old age, lack of skills, and difficulty in finding jobs." Every day at noon, Zhang Dahai, who works as a dishwasher in a government canteen, and his five companions wash more than 10,000 bowls, plates and other tableware. "The dishes I have washed in the past six months are almost as much as the ones I have washed in my whole life." Zhang Dahai, who is in his 50s, has a slightly stooped figure and walks slowly. Zhang Dahai told reporters that he had many years of driving experience and initially wanted to find a driving job. “Driving a taxi requires a registered permanent residence, and those who drive a truck want strong young men, and the maximum age must be under 35. People our age are not even considered by formal recruiters, and we can only wash dishes and carry plates. "Zhang Dahai's salary for washing dishes is about 1 yuan a month. He doesn't expect a high salary, as long as he doesn't default on his salary. In the past two years, many places have experienced "recruitment difficulties." However, if you look closely at the company's recruitment conditions, there is often a "hard bar" - the age is generally no more than 35 years old. A survey by the Labor Science Institute of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security shows that "18-35 years old" has almost become a general guideline for companies to recruit general workers. Some companies even require "under 28 years old", and they really can't recruit people. , the standard is relaxed to 40 years old at most. In interviews, many "" migrant workers said that due to their age, lack of skills, and low educational level, it is becoming more and more difficult for them to find jobs. They can only choose jobs with poor working conditions, low wages, and jobs that young people do not like. I don't dare to ask for a salary increase because I'm afraid of being fired. The older I get, the harder it is to find another job. 42-year-old Zhu Airong works as a cleaner in an institution, and her husband works as a security guard in the same unit. Their monthly salary is only 1 yuan. The salary is not high, but it is the best job she and her husband could find after many comparisons. What Zhu Airong misses most is the time when she was a female worker in a factory when she was young. "At that time, I worked at a woven bag factory to affix trademarks and was paid piece-rate. It was a fast job and I earned the most." Later, when the village they rented in Qinhuangdao in the city was to be demolished, Zhu Airong came to work with her husband. It's not easy for her to find a job in her 40s. "Everyone wants young people, but at my age, I can't do anything except nannying and cleaning," Zhu Airong said. But Zhu Airong doesn’t think there is anything abnormal about this. In her opinion, migrant workers who can still find well-paying jobs after the age of 40 must be skilled and capable, and most of her generation I didn't even finish junior high school when I was working.

■There are old people at the top and children at the bottom. "" migrant workers have the heaviest life burden. Their biggest wish is that their children can develop well. For "" migrant workers, they are in the stage of "there are old people at the top and young people at the bottom". The burden of life is the heaviest. Children are both their motivation and their hope. In order to have a good environment for their children, they worked hard in the city. "If it weren't for the children to have a better life, we wouldn't work so hard in the city." Sister Zhou Tao, a migrant worker who makes burritos near the Beiyuan Road exit of Metro Line 13, told reporters that she and her husband were young I came to work from my hometown in Cao County, Heze, Shandong. Over the past ten years, I have moved to seven or eight urban villages and opened several small restaurants, but I did not make much money due to demolition, remote location and other reasons. Now, while her husband mixes noodles and prepares ingredients at home, she sets up a burrito stall at the subway entrance, earning a diverse income a month. Although it is hard work, 50-year-old Zhou Tao looks happy when talking about her two children. "My daughter graduated from college and works as a teacher at New Oriental English School. My son has been admitted to Shanghai Tongji University's architecture major and will be able to work in two years." At this stage, Zhou Tao is most worried about her son's tuition and living expenses. "The tuition fee is more than 100 yuan per year, the accommodation fee is 100 yuan per month, and the monthly living expenses are 15,000 yuan at least. I am not afraid of your ridicule, but I miss my children now, but I am also afraid of having children, because I have to send money to the children. Zhou Tao said with a bitter smile. Zhu Airong's son also went to college, studying acupuncture at a medical university in Jinan, and went to a private clinic after graduation. What worries Zhu Airong is his son's marriage. "My son had a girlfriend when he was in college. But people thought that our family's conditions were poor. They said that our whole family was working. Our grandparents were working, as were our parents, and they didn't want my daughter to associate with my son." People are different. Among migrant workers, many get married and have children when they are in their 40s. Working hard and saving money so that their children can get married has become the focus of these migrant workers’ lives. "I can't afford a wife in the city, but I have to get married for my son in my hometown." Yu Guangju, who lives in Sichuan, said. At the age of 45, she and her husband spent 100,000 yuan to buy a house in their hometown county for their eldest son's marriage. Although her eldest son works in Shanghai, he never goes back once a year. "Well, even if they have fulfilled their responsibilities, it is their fault whether they can live there or not." The 100,000 yuan spent all her savings, and she also borrowed 20,000 yuan from relatives. Now, Yu Guangju and her husband are saving money to pay off debts and provide for their 18-year-old son's future marriage. What worries her is that in the past few years, her husband could earn more than 30,000 yuan a year digging subways, but now his lumbar muscle strain can no longer do heavy work and he can only work as a cleaner in the community. His monthly income is only 30,000 yuan, and he has to bear all the burdens of life. It fell on Yu Guangju, who was working as a part-time employee. ■"Work in the city until you can't work anymore" and "go back to your hometown when you can't work anymore" have become the common mentality of migrant workers. When they are 40 or 50 years old, there are still units that want to work in the city. What will happen in another ten years? manage? After working outside for many years, Zhu Airong gradually became accustomed to city life. He dressed and treated people like a city dweller. But whenever he mentioned his hometown, Zhu Airong's eyes flashed with reluctance. "I really want to go back. The air in the countryside is fresh and the house is spacious and bright. I can grow some vegetables in the front and back of the house and pick them when I'm cooking." Zhu Airong said that now more than 30 acres of his family's land have been contracted to his sister-in-law for planting. Land paid a contracting fee of RMB 10,000. But the income from farming was still too little and the risks were high. Zhu Airong sighed after thinking about it. "Last year, there was heavy rain in the Northeast, and all the soybeans planted by my sister-in-law were flooded. She also clamored to come to work." Zhu Airong said that almost all of her and her husband's brothers and sisters went out to work as a family. Even her parents-in-law, who are nearly 70 years old, are still working as nannies in Tianjin. "My mother-in-law is very capable. She went to Harbin to work as a nanny in the 1990s. Now she wants to work in Tianjin for another two years and stop working when she is 70." The present of my father-in-law and mother-in-law seems to be Zhu Airong's tomorrow. "We have not participated in the pension insurance, so we are always changing jobs; we have not participated in the new rural insurance, so we will have to rely on ourselves for our future pension. It is good if the children can take care of themselves, so we can only work more while we can." "Save more money for me." Zhang Dahai told reporters that his wife, who is almost 60 years old, works as a nanny in a household on Gulou Street, earning an income of 1 yuan and two days off every month. . "We want to work for another two years and then go back to our hometown, and now we are trying to save more money." The reporter learned during the interview that most "" migrant workers have the same ideas as Zhu Airong, "relying on oneself for retirement" and "working in the city" "Until you can't do it anymore" and "If you can't do it anymore, just go back to your hometown" have become common mentality. But both Zhang Dahai and Zhu Airong feel that the older they get, the harder it is to make money in the city. Wages are getting lower and lower, prices are getting higher and higher, and they can't save money no matter how much they save.

Long Wenjun, a researcher at the Agricultural Research Center of the Ministry of Agriculture, pointed out that most older migrant workers are engaged in construction and service industries with low technical content, and rarely have the energy to consider their own pension issues. Even if they are aware of participating in insurance, social security emphasizes Continuity and stability will also become big problems for them. Therefore, it is urgent to further improve my country's pension insurance system, improve pension security facilities and services for this generation of migrant workers, and increase investment in rural pension security facilities. Experts also suggest that society should give more care to "" migrant workers and pay attention to their rights to survival, development and fair employment. From the age of 16 allowed to enter the labor force to the legal retirement age of 60 (currently 50 for female workers), not surprisingly, a worker's career can last about 40 years. Nowadays, companies are unwilling to employ people once they turn 40, which is equivalent to giving up half of the labor field early, which is unfair to workers. We should increase the skills training for older workers in a targeted manner, guide enterprises to change their concepts, treat the older workforce well, and give full play to their advantages of being hard-working, steady and down-to-earth.