Many old people and young people depend on the middle-aged workers.
"I went through those 10 years of chaos," said a middle-aged worker.
This further reduces the funds available to pay for the retirement of today's middle-aged workers.
The result is that young and middle-aged workers are effectively subsidizing the elderly.
And if you'll forgive me if I have a special place in my heart for middle-aged workers.
"We know about it, because it's been mentioned in the papers and on television," a middle-aged Chinese worker said.
This shows that the labour force is indeed largely made up of middle-aged workers.
Now the downturn in the wages of college-educated, middle-aged workers is beginning to produce similar discussion.
Many of the middle-aged, college-educated workers have no doubts that there has been a structural change.
Other shifts are also contributing to the hard times for these middle-aged workers.
