人口老龄化背景下高龄劳动者劳动权益的保障困境与制度审视

Challenges and Institutional Responses to the Protection of Elderly Workers’ Labor Rights and Interests amidst Population Aging

摘要: 人口老龄化是21世纪人类社会面临的重大结构性变迁之一，中国作为世界上老年人口规模最大的国家，正经历着深刻的人口结构转型。在这一宏观背景下，高龄劳动者群体日益壮大，其劳动权益保障问题逐渐凸显为社会治理中的重要议题。本文以社会学视角切入，运用生命历程理论与结构化理论的分析框架，系统考察高龄劳动者在劳动力市场中的结构性位置、面临的就业歧视与职业排斥、社会保障制度的覆盖缺口以及劳动权益救济的现实障碍。研究发现，高龄劳动者的劳动权益困境并非单纯的个体能力衰退所致，而是嵌入在年龄化的劳动力市场结构、制度化的退休年龄安排以及社会文化中的年龄偏见等多重因素交织作用下的社会建构结果。本文进一步从制度层面审视现行劳动法律体系与社会保障制度在应对人口老龄化挑战时的适应性局限，提出构建年龄友好型就业政策、完善高龄劳动者权益保护机制、重塑积极老龄化的社会认知等制度优化路径，以期为应对人口老龄化社会中的劳动治理提供理论参考与政策启示。

Abstract: Population aging is one of the major structural changes facing human society in the 21st century. As the country with the largest elderly population in the world, China is undergoing a profound demographic transition. In this macro context, the group of elderly workers is growing stronger, and their labor rights and interests protection has gradually become an important issue in social governance. This article takes a sociological perspective and uses the analytical framework of life course theory and structural theory to systematically examine the structural position of elderly workers in the labor market, the employment discrimination and occupational exclusion they face, the coverage gap of the social security system, and the practical obstacles to labor rights and interests relief. Research has found that the labor rights and interests dilemma of elderly workers is not simply caused by individual ability decline, but is a result of social construction embedded in multiple factors such as an aging labor market structure, institutionalized retirement age arrangements, and age bias in social culture. This article further examines the adaptability limitations of the current labor legal system and social security system in addressing the challenges of population aging from an institutional perspective. It proposes institutional optimization paths such as building age friendly employment policies, improving the protection mechanism for the rights and interests of elderly workers, and reshaping the social cognition of active aging, in order to provide theoretical references and policy inspirations for labor governance in an aging society.