Growing need

China has sent 283 contestants to compete at WorldSkills since 2010, winning the nation 93 golds, 41 silvers and 28 bronzes in total. Learning skills has not only shaped individuals' lives and careers, but has grown to become a strong support for the nation's development in manufacturing, technology and innovation.

In 2021, China had over 200 million skilled workers, taking up 26 percent of the total workforce. Among them, 60 million were highly skilled, according to the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

The nation has channeled more effort into training skilled workers in recent years. Figures from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security show that from 2019, over 100 million people have attended job training or work skills improvement campaigns organized by the ministry. From 2021, nearly 2 million skilled apprentices have been trained by companies with the aid of financial support from the government.

However, skilled workers, especially the highly skilled, remain in short supply.

"The technological and industrial advancement of AI, big data and cloud computing, creates higher requirements for skilled workers. The WorldSkills competition has updated its events in line with market needs," said Ye Junfeng, Party secretary of Guangdong Machinery Technician College. The college has produced 16 world champions and won China 12 gold medals at WorldSkills competitions.

According to Ye, the students who graduate from his college have good career prospects and many receive job offers from companies two or three months before they graduate.

"We have about 3,000 graduates each year and those majoring in electromechanical and smart manufacturing, numerical control machines can get three to five job offers at campus job fairs. Their salary can be as much as 7,000 yuan ($960) a month during their internship, rising to 28,000 yuan."

He said that some companies often complain that they can't find suitable skilled people to operate cutting-edge machines or to maintain them. "The structural imbalance of the job market is a problem. From my observation, skilled workers in electromechanical, smart manufacturing and domestic services are in great demand. Companies are willing to hire and pay more for these skilled workers."

The college is cooperating with other vocational schools to help maximize students' career prospects. "What we wish to do is to change people's stereotypes around skilled workers, whose abilities are usually undervalued. Many of our students have served in the nation's key companies and been involved in technique improvements and tackling technological problems with researchers."