DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ 'Silver economy' boom: China transforms kindergartens into senior care homes as demographic crisis deepens
▼ + stars: | 2024-10-31 | by ( Anniek Bao | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Plagued by shrinking birth rates and a rapidly aging population, tens of thousands of Chinese kindergartens have scaled back operations, closed down entirely or pivoted industries to survive. One preschool in the eastern province of Zhejiang still operates as a daycare, but instead of serving children, they're now catering to senior citizens. Last year, Zhuang Yanfang, 56, repurposed her kindergarten in the city of Jinhua, Zhejiang, into a senior nursing center. Conversely, as preschools suffer, the senior care industry is thriving in China's aging population crisis. "China's aging will only intensify," said Harry Murphy Cruise, an economist at Moody's Analytics.

Persons: Zhuang Yanfang, Harry Murphy Cruise, Cruise Organizations: China's Ministry of Education, China's Communist Party, Office, State Council, Moody's Locations: Zhejiang, Jinhua, China

SYDNEY, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Australia is preparing for the arrival of thousands of Chinese students, the education minister said on Monday, days after China's education ministry warned students enrolled overseas that online learning would no longer be recognised. Tens of thousands remain offshore after pandemic restrictions and strained diplomatic relations led many to return home. Phil Honeywood, chief executive officer at International Education Association of Australia, an advocacy body for international education in Australia, said there were currently about 40,000 Chinese students still offshore. "We anticipate a lot of Chinese students will be scrambling as we speak to get on flights to Australia. The move by China's Ministry of Education has been met with anger from Chinese students.

☆ China's big cities are starting to look past Covid, while rural areas brace for infections
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Subway passenger traffic in Shanghai is quickly returning to levels seen before the latest Covid wave, according to Wind data. Subway and road data show traffic in major cities is rebounding, he pointed out, indicating the worst of the latest Covid wave has passed. "The dramatic U-turn in China's Covid policy since mid-Nov implies deeper short-term economic contraction but faster reopening and recovery," Hu said in a report Wednesday. In the last several days, the southern city of Guangzhou and the tourist destination of Sanya said they'd passed the peak of the Covid wave. watch nowChongqing was the most congested city in mainland China during Thursday morning's rush hour, according to Baidu traffic data.

All the major S&P 500 sector indexes rose, with consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD) and technology (.SPLRCT) leading the pack with a near 3% rise. The Fed's aggressive rate hikes have hammered equities this year, with the benchmark S&P 500 (.SPX) shedding 19.3% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq tumbling nearly 33%. The CBOE Volatility index (.VIX), known as Wall Street's "fear gauge", slipped, signaling an easing in investor anxiety. Tesla shares (TSLA.O) rose 8.3% after Chief Executive Elon Musk told staff they should not be "bothered by stock market craziness". The S&P index recorded no new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 40 new highs and 117 new lows.

All the major S&P 500 sectoral indexes rose, with consumer discretionary (.SPLRCD) and information technology (.SPLRCT) up 1.8% and 1.9%, respectively. The U.S. Labor Department's report showed initial claims for unemployment benefits rose 9,000 to a seasonally adjusted 225,000 for the week ended Dec. 24. The report hinted at some softening in an otherwise tight labor market, bolstering hopes that the U.S. central bank would dial down its aggressive monetary policy stance. "Signs of the job market beginning to weaken is certainly apparent," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist, Spartan Capital Securities LLC. A strong labor market and resilient American economy have fueled worries that interest rates could stay higher for longer even though easing inflationary pressures keep alive hopes of smaller increases.

☆ Younger Chinese are spurning factory jobs that power the economy
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( David Kirton | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +8 min

For his father's generation, factory work was a lifeline out of rural poverty. For Zhu, and millions of other younger Chinese, the low pay, long hours of drudgery and the risk of injuries are no longer sacrifices worth making. Factory bosses say they would produce more, and faster, with younger blood replacing their ageing workforce. But offering the higher wages and better working conditions that younger Chinese want would risk eroding their competitive advantage. Yet young workers are vital to keep production moving.

Search resuls for: "China's Ministry of Education"

6 mentions found