New professions in China reflect economic, social development

Buoyed by new business models and forms of employment, new professions have emerged in China, reflecting the country's economic and social development.

Two beverage concoctors prepare milk tea for customers at a milk tea shop in Chaoyang district, Beijing, April 6. (People's Daily Overseas Edition/Qiao Cai)

Recently, China's Ministry of Human Resource and Social Security (MHRSS) and other departments have given official recognition to 18 new professions, including integrated circuit technicians and beverage concoctors.

Since April 2019, China has added 56 new professions such as drone pilots, healthcare workers, delivery personnel for online orders, online ride-hailing drivers, and livestreaming salespersons.

Official recognition of these new professions will help enhance the sense of honor and social identity of the people who engage in them, encouraging them to reach their full potential, said Li Qiang, executive vice-president of China's leading recruitment company Zhilian Zhaopin.

Job seekers tend to choose new professions because of interest or higher income. About 53.9 percent and 50.4 percent of job hunters choose a new occupation for a higher income or to continue pursuing their hobbies, according to a report on China’s new professionals in 2020 jointly published by Zhilian Zhaopin and the Meituan Research Institute, a social science research agency under Chinese e-commerce platform Meituan.

Li Ting with VIP Kid, a Chinese-owned online education platform, provides the platform’s registered students with personalized, timely and effective learning planning and guidance. Her job as an online learning consultant has also been officially recognized.

“Thanks to the official recognition, my job has been accepted by more people, and our students and their parents have placed much more trust in us,” Li told People's Daily Overseas Edition.

Li said that she loves her job and earns a monthly salary of over 10,000 yuan ($1,525.60), which is higher than that of some of her college classmates who are now teachers at public schools.

The report also indicated that Meituan has driven the birth of more than 70 new professions, including room escape designers, due to emerging new business forms.

The emergence of new professions is closely related to new conditions such as technological advances, aging population, further development of the market economy and social governance, said Zhou Yexin, an associate professor with the School of Economics and Resource Management under Beijing Normal University.

Wang Diquan (R), an ability appraiser for the elderly, learns about a senior citizen's self-care ability at a nursing home in Changsha, central China's Hunan province. (Photo/Xinhua)

The development of information technologies is the most important direct factor accelerating the emergence of new occupations, Zhou explained, adding that this emergence brings about new job growth, keeps up with the changes in industrial structure, and makes efficient use of human resources, thus providing more products and services for society.

New professions reflect China's economic and social development, said Chen Yu, former deputy director of the China Association of Employment Promotion.

"New professions are not invented by the government," Chen said, adding that they are the natural results of economic and social activities.

While new professions play an important role in promoting employment and boosting industrial development, some professionals also voiced concerns about problems including low social security coverage, unclear prospects, and the lack of vocational training.

With the new professions published, China's human resources authority will step up efforts to formulate national standards for new professions with other departments to guide talent training and cultivate a huge reservoir of talent, according to an official from the MHRSS.

Last year, the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments issued a guideline calling for more efforts to explore social security policies that can be applied to flexible employment patterns involving multiple platforms and employers.