New-collar jobs bring new momentum for China’s economic development

China’s human resources authority has unveiled 16 new professions, mostly in the emerging industries and service sectors, bringing new engines for the country’s economic development.

The new professions include intelligent manufacturing technicians, industrial internet technicians, virtual reality technicians, artificial intelligence instructors and all-media operators, among others, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and other departments. In April 2019, the ministry added 13 new professions to its list of occupations, including digital managers and cloud computing technicians.

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty coined the term “new-collar jobs” as a way of identifying these professions based on emerging technologies such as automation and AI. The new professions will create tens of thousands of new jobs and boost the development of emerging industries such as the AI sector.

New-collar jobs are a reflection of the trends in emerging industries. Xiaohan, a woman in Jinan, East China’s Shandong province, recently registered for a key animation course on an online class platform, saying that she was attracted by the development prospects and the high salaries that the sector offered.

“Now, I’m thinking about starting a new career while learning the course. I want to make a difference in the new sector in the new era,” she said, adding that she knows she can succeed as long as she works hard. As she is a novice in this field, she aims to become a key animator.

In recent years, more and more young people like Xiaohan have changed their careers from traditional industries to emerging sectors.

The development of emerging industries is also leading to the creation of more types of new-collar jobs. According to a statement recently issued by the China Employment Training Technical Instruction Center, the country will add 10 more new job roles, including blockchain engineering technicians.

An obvious trend that can be seen from these new professions is that digital skills have become a basic requirement, said Yang Weiguo, dean of the School of Labor and Human Resources at Renmin University of China, adding that the creation of new professions has upgraded China’s employment and economic structure.

The country’s industrial upgrading and development of new forms of business create a huge job market, while new-collar jobs will bring better employment opportunities for the new generation of young people, according to Zhang Yi, director of the National Institute of Social Development, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

China is currently seeing a huge demand for new-collar talents. For example, there are over 2 million digital managers across the country. Relevant departments predicted that the country will see over 10 million delivery personnel for online orders as a result of the further development of the digital economy.

The rapid growth of the internet of things industry (IoT) has also generated a huge demand for talents. According to one survey, the talent gap for technicians in China’s IoT industry will soon exceed 16 million.