The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council jointly proposed new measures to encourage young people to join the skilled labor, or blue-collar, workforce. The measures include improving vocational education, upgrading the compensation system, and elevating the social status of skilled workers. The recent proposal marks one of the latest initiatives to make blue-collar jobs more attractive as the country wrestles with a skilled worker shortage and an overabundance of college graduates.
China is experiencing an industrial upgrading process, where most jobs will be transitioned from labor-intensive to skill-intensive. A survey from China International Intellectech Corporation indicates that 83% of manufacturers were struggling to find skilled workers in the first half of 2022. Meanwhile, a record 10.76 million college graduates have entered the job market and the unemployment rate for young people aged 16 to 24 rose to 19.9% in July, the highest since China’s National Bureau of Statistics started publishing this data in 2018.
To overcome the huge gap impeding the country from fully utilizing its population advantage, The proposal will:
- Encourage various social entities and organizations to set up vocational schools, which were traditionally run by the state and leading enterprises.
- Enhance the income distribution system by attaching more importance to the value of skills and techniques and upgrading the professional title system for skilled workers.
- Provide special resources and services to highly technical skilled training programs.
- Establish a professional evaluation and certification system for skilled workers and require support from local leadership and policymakers.
Outlook: Skilled labor jobs, or blue-collar jobs, are traditionally considered inferior and reserved for those with a lower level of education in Chinese culture. In comparison, jobs in government or large companies are more favored due to the stability and respect attached to such positions. To effectively attract more skilled workers, the government also needs to have social conversations and remove the stigma from such jobs.