Chinese company withdraws notice setting deadline for single workers to get married

A company in China has rolled back a policy threatening never-married and divorced employees with termination if they were still single by the end of September following pushback from the public, as well as government officials.

The Shuntian Chemical Group, based in eastern China’s Shandong province, announced the policy last month in an effort to boost the marriage rate among its employees.

The company, which has more than 1,200 employees, told unmarried workers ages 28 to 58, including those who are divorced, that they were required to “resolve your personal marriage issues” by Sept. 30.

“If not completed by the first quarter, you must write a self-reflection,” its announcement read. “If not completed by the second quarter, the company will conduct an evaluation.”

“If you cannot get married and establish a family by the third quarter, the company will terminate your labor contract,” it continued. “Please take note.”

The notice also criticized single employees for “not responding to the national call” to marry and have children, accusing them of being “disloyal and disobedient to parental advice.”

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The announcement, which comes amid a concerted Chinese government effort to boost marriage and birth rates, was widely criticized online.

“Isn’t this just another reason to fire an employee?” read a comment on the Chinese social media platform Weibo.

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Chinese media reported that officials from the local human resources and social security bureau visited the company on Feb. 13 and pointed out that the policy violated Chinese labor law. The company withdrew it by the next day.

“This announcement has been withdrawn because some of the words used were inappropriate,” a person who answered the phone at Shuntian Chemical Group but declined to give a name said Tuesday.

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The government of China, the world’s second-most-populous country after India, has been trying to stoke the younger generation’s interest in getting married and having children in the face of a declining and aging population.

The number of new marriages in China fell by a fifth last year, the biggest drop on record, according to government data released this month, while the population fell last year for the third consecutive year, to 1.408 billion.

Ahead of China’s annual parliamentary meeting next week, a national political adviser has suggested lowering the legal age for marriage to 18 as one way to reverse current trends, Chinese media reported Tuesday.

At 22 for men and 20 for women, the legal age for marriage in China is among the highest in the world. The legal age is 18 in most developed countries, including most of the United States, though most U.S. states allow younger people to get married with parental or judicial consent.

The proposal met with skepticism among Chinese social media users, some of whom noted the high unemployment rate among young people.

“When you don’t even have the ability to make money, do you want to have a baby for your parents to raise?” read a comment on Weibo.

Another asked: “Is this going back to ancient times?”