Shanghai is exploring ways to utilize its senior workforce as China confronts a growing demographic crisis. The struggles of older job seekers highlight the paradox of labor demand in the rapidly changing economic hub.

Qiu has been scouring Shanghai’s labour agencies for a job for her 58-year-old father – a former mechanic from neighbouring Jiangsu province caught in a frustrating limbo. While he is still years away from the official retirement age for rural migrants, his struggle to find work underscores a paradox in China’s financial hub: even as the city desperately needs more workers to counter a shrinking population, ageing jobseekers are being met with high fees and physical exhaustion. His search...