In the 2026 National Two Sessions, the &#34;silver economy&#34; was first included in the list of future industries prioritized for cultivation in the government work report, with &#34;investing in people&#34; becoming the core strategy to address changes in population structure. Faced with an increasingly large elderly population, how to solve the dual dilemma of &#34;supply-demand mismatch&#34; and &#34;difficulty in recruitment and retention&#34; has become a key issue for promoting the high-quality development of the silver economy.
During research, reporters found that industry pioneers represented by Taikang are promoting the transition of the elderly care service industry from a labor-intensive &#34;human resource gap&#34; era to a knowledge-intensive, technology-driven &#34;talent dividend&#34; era through the reshaping of professional value, technological empowerment, and ecological co-construction. This is not only a commercial innovation for enterprises but also a vivid practice of the country's proactive strategy to address population aging.
Breaking the Deadlock: Letting &#34;Youth Power&#34; See Professional Dignity
&#34;In the past, everyone thought elderly care was just about 'dealing with bodily functions.' Now we want to tell young people that this is a modern service industry supported by multiple disciplines such as medicine, psychology, and rehabilitation.&#34; Xu Xiaohuan, Vice President of Taikang Home and General Manager of the Elderly Care Community Division, stated in an interview.
The change in perception stems from the reconstruction of the professional track. At Taikang Home, a &#34;1+N&#34; multidisciplinary care model is in operation: a housekeeper or case manager serves as the core &#34;1,&#34; connecting various professional positions such as nursing, rehabilitation, medical care, pharmacy, social work, entertainment, sports, catering, nutrition, and logistics support, which are the &#34;N.&#34;
A post-2000s young woman, Yi Meijing, is a beneficiary of this transformation. After graduating in 2022, she chose to join Taikang Home. Initially, her family did not understand, but now she is the champion of the Beijing Elderly Care Vocational Skills Competition, a senior technician, and serves as a teaching instructor. &#34;I remember when I first arrived, an elderly person with dementia was emotionally agitated. Instead of simply calming him down, I used professional assessment to find out that he was unable to express himself due to pain. After addressing the pain, the elder tightly grasped my hand.&#34; Yi Meijing reflected, &#34;At that moment, I understood that this job requires a high level of professionalism and truly earns respect.&#34;
Data shows that among Taikang Home's service team of 18,000 people, those born in the 1990s and 2000s account for 50%, with over 70% holding a college degree or higher. This young and highly educated team is rewriting society's stereotypes about elderly care workers. With the formal inclusion of &#34;Elderly Care Service Workers&#34; in the national new occupational directory in 2026, a career path to becoming a &#34;national craftsman&#34; has been fully opened.
Empowerment: Dual-Driven &#34;Ecological Co-Construction&#34; through Public Welfare and Education
Talent cultivation requires ecological collaboration from the whole society.
&#34;The pain points of the elderly care industry appear to be a lack of personnel, but at a deeper level, it is a lack of a 'retention' professional belief.&#34; Ying Weiwei, Assistant President and Secretary of the Board of Taikang Insurance Group, and Chairman of the Taikang Yicai Public Welfare Foundation, pointed out. He proposed that the essence of public welfare is the ecological co-construction of &#34;teaching people to fish.&#34;
The &#34;Yicai Kangyang Ren&#34; public welfare project initiated by the Taikang Yicai Public Welfare Foundation in collaboration with the China Social Welfare Foundation focuses on &#34;giving people hope.&#34; The project selects and empowers 100 outstanding practitioners from various levels of institutions across the country, publicizing their touching stories and providing them with funding, empowerment, and training exchange platforms
&#34;We hope to illuminate the entire industry by lighting up these 100 lamps. When frontline caregivers have a sense of professional honor, the service level of small and medium-sized institutions can be improved overall, and young people can truly stay,&#34; said Eric Wu. The Yicai Public Welfare Foundation has focused on elderly care public welfare for eight years, establishing three major elderly care public welfare projects: &#34;Yicai Qianjia,&#34; &#34;Yicai Training,&#34; and &#34;Yicai Starlight.&#34; Among them, the &#34;Yicai Training&#34; project has trained nearly 150,000 elderly care practitioners, becoming a &#34;reservoir&#34; for talent development in the industry.
At the same time, the integration of industry and education is addressing talent supply at its source. To solve the talent supply issue from the source, &#34;Taikang Home&#34; has deepened school-enterprise cooperation and launched the &#34;Taikang Class&#34; order-based training model, collaborating with many vocational colleges and universities nationwide to integrate Taikang's care standards, service concepts, and practical processes into campus teaching, while providing students with more than six months of in-depth internship experience. Currently, over 60% of interns choose to stay with Taikang after graduation.
Leap: Technology Reshapes &#34;New Quality Productivity&#34;
While upgrading human capital, technology is becoming a key variable to alleviate staffing pressure and enhance service levels.
&#34;All elderly care systems cannot do without technology; this is the only way to develop new quality productivity in the elderly care field,&#34; emphasized Xu Xiaohuan. In the smart community of Taikang Home, AI medical care models assist in nursing decisions, robots handle heavy lifting and safety inspections, and telemedicine systems address the accessibility of expert resources.
The application of technology is not to replace humans but to &#34;liberate&#34; them. It frees caregivers from heavy and repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus more on providing warm emotional care and high-quality rehabilitation services. This new model of &#34;human-machine collaboration&#34; not only significantly improves operational efficiency but also gives young practitioners a sense of the industry's &#34;future&#34; and &#34;technological&#34; aspects.
Outlook: From &#34;Sunset Red&#34; to &#34;Sunrise Industry&#34;
As business models gradually become viable, leading companies like Taikang Home expect to achieve overall profitability in the next year or two, marking a positive cycle for high-quality elderly care communities in China.
From the decline of the &#34;demographic dividend&#34; to the rise of the &#34;talent dividend,&#34; China's elderly care industry is undergoing a critical paradigm shift. As industry experts say, when policy guidance, market mechanisms, and social forces work together, and when specialization and professionalism become industry standards, the elderly care service industry will no longer be a &#34;burden&#34; on society but a new engine for expanding domestic demand, promoting employment, and driving high-quality development.
In this long race concerning national economy and people's livelihood, more and more young people are entering the field with professionalism and passion. What they support is not only the happy twilight years of billions of elders but also a warm and solid page in the process of Chinese-style modernization.
(China Economic Net, Song Yajing)

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In 2026, the National Two Sessions will include the "silver economy" in the government work report, emphasizing that "investing in people" is essential to address changes in population structure. Industry pioneers like Taikang are promoting the transformation of the elderly care service industry from labor-intensive to knowledge-intensive through the reshaping of professional value and technological empowerment. Taikang Home implements a "1+N" multidisciplinary care model to attract young, highly educated talent and change societal stereotypes about elderly care workers. In 2026, "elderly care service practitioners" will officially be included in the national new occupational directory, with broad career development prospects

From "Labor Shortage" to "Talent Dividend": The New Quality Leap in the Elderly Care Industry