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.