Old people still work
Ms. Bui Thi Kim Duc is a preschool teacher who retired in 2020 and currently lives in Phuong Liet ward (Hanoi).
Ms. Duc said that in the first 2 years after retiring, she stayed at home to look after her grandchild for her eldest son. When she went to preschool, her job was to only take care of breakfast for her husband and dinner for her family of five every day. After all the days of just worrying about housework, Mrs. Duc feels arrested.
In 2024, a private kindergarten was opened near Ms. Duc's house. Introduced by acquaintances, Ms. Duc works as a part-time teacher (1 session per day) with a salary of 5 million VND/month.
I work every morning of the week, except Sunday morning, with a salary of 5 million VND/month. At first, my husband and children did not agree because they were afraid of hard work, but I only worked for half a day, so I felt very comfortable and suitable for my health conditions. The school also appreciates my experience and both sides agreed that when I felt I could not continue my work, I would give a 2-week notice so that the school could arrange it," said Ms. Duc.
Mr. Nguyen Van Long (Tay Mo ward, Hanoi) is also an elderly worker participating in the labor market. Mr. Long retired in 2023, after nearly 30 years as an employee of a printing company.
"I retired when I was still healthy, and my children and grandchildren were living alone, so I had no problems. I decided to continue working. Unexpectedly, when I went looking for a job, I found many jobs that were suitable for my job search needs. After consideration and consideration, I took on the job of security guard for a company specializing in education, 2km from my home. I work from 7am to 6pm every day, and get a day off at night, Mr. Long shared.
Many jobs for the elderly
Currently, elderly workers have many suitable job options, including part-time jobs (household chores, sales at convenience stores, home processing) or jobs that require experience (cuoking for the company, security guards, domestic workers, nannies).
In addition, there are many jobs that help elderly workers maintain their jobs without being limited by time such as small business, freelance work (repairing electrical appliances, opening groceries...) or being a technology driver if they are still healthy.
Talking to Lao Dong reporter, Mr. Le Quang Trung - former Deputy Director in charge of the Department of Employment - said that currently, our country has more than 16 million elderly people - accounting for about 16% of the population. Among these, many people have done specific jobs, experts in many fields, even leaders of state agencies... If we do not use them, we will almost not be able to take advantage of this valuable resource. Especially for those who used to be workers with high technical and professional qualifications in the fields of education, healthcare, etc.
According to Mr. Trung, in order for the elderly to be able to participate in the labor market, the relevant agencies must specifically assess the aspirations, abilities, and needs of the elderly to have a plan to use the elderly in the right direction they want: "The elderly must be the subject for us to aim for activities for them, revolving around them. For the elderly who are able to work and they want to continue working, want to contribute to society, we must have solutions to arrange jobs for them".
Article 13 of the 2025 Law on Employment (effective from January 1, 2026) stipulates the policy of job support for elderly workers as follows:
1. To borrow capital to support job creation, maintenance and expansion according to the provisions of this Law.
2. Support for training, fostering to improve vocational skills, support for participating in assessment, and issuance of national vocational skills certificates according to the provisions of this Law.
3. Based on the socio-economic conditions in each period and the ability to balance the budget, the State has policies to support job creation, retraining, and vocational training for workers to adapt to population aging.
