Highly skilled technical talent forms the backbone of China's manufacturing and innovation capabilities. Since the start of the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the country's skilled workforce has grown significantly in both size and quality. The total number of skilled workers now exceeds 220 million, including over 72 million highly skilled professionals, providing solid human resources support for high-quality economic and social development. As a new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation accelerates, and as public demand for higher-quality, more refined services continues to rise, the requirements for skilled workers have become more stringent.

In June of this year, the State Council issued the "15th Five-Year Plan for Implementing the Employment Priority Strategy," followed by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security's "15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Human Resources and Social Security" in July, which systematically outlines large-scale vocational skills training initiatives. In September, the 48th WorldSkills Competition will be held in Shanghai, showcasing China's achievements in skills development. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), how will the nation accelerate the cultivation of a knowledgeable, skilled, and innovative workforce, and foster more master craftsmen and highly skilled talent? Reporters interviewed officials from human resources and social security departments, relevant enterprises, technical schools, and skilled workers themselves to find answers.

Addressing the Skills Mismatch and Building a '30-Minute Training Circle'

Recently, a training session for AI trainers took place at the Digital Skills Public Training Base in Changsha, Hunan Province. Trainee Li Huan was eager to ask the instructor about setting standards for data annotation precision, and the teacher provided detailed explanations using real enterprise cases. This 14-day intensive course progressed from basic to advanced levels, with practical tasks ranging from speech-to-text transcription standards to intelligent copy generation, filling each day with hands-on activity. "It was perfectly paced for a complete beginner like me and has given me the confidence to transition into the digital industry," Li Huan said.

Hunan Province has launched a large-scale "One Person, One Skill" vocational training initiative this year, focusing on the talent needs of 12 key industrial chains and specifically targeting groups such as migrant workers, university graduates, veterans, and people with disabilities to address their skill gaps. To enhance training effectiveness, subsidy funds are now directly linked to employment rates, certification rates, and salary fulfillment rates, placing greater responsibility on training institutions. As of July 1st, Hunan has provided training to 717,800 individuals this year, with high participation in fields like artificial intelligence and elderly care services. A relevant department head from the Hunan Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security stated that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Hunan aims to train 5 million people, implementing special actions for migrant worker support, graduate enhancement, course-certificate integration, and master technician development. The province will establish and improve six mechanisms, including the "industry-training-assessment-employment" closed loop and the demand-supply matching system, to resolve the structural contradiction of "people without skills, skills not matching jobs, and jobs without people."

A key target in the "15th Five-Year Plan for Implementing the Employment Priority Strategy" is to increase the proportion of skilled workers in the total employed population from 30% in 2025 to 35% by 2030. An official from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security's Professional Capacity Building Department explained that the country will build a comprehensive lifelong vocational skills training implementation system. This includes high-quality execution of the "Skills Brighten the Future" training action, with special training programs focused on industrial development, enterprise employment needs, and worker demands in fields such as artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, the low-altitude economy, new energy vehicles, and health and elderly care services. The strategy also involves promoting industry-education-assessment, order-based, and project-based training models to cultivate more skill ecosystem chains. To make training more accessible, the plan includes creating a "30-minute training circle" and publishing a digital map for public training services.

Breaking Down Barriers to Talent Selection and Deepening the 'New Eight-Grade' System

In Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, at the production scheduling center of Shagang Group, dozens of industrial control hosts and data collection servers operate continuously. Large screens display real-time data on rolling mill output, energy consumption, and temperature. Zhou Enhui, the company's chief technician, sits at a workstation, monitoring data and programming algorithm optimizations. Zhou's digitally designed measurement and control system has resolved issues with steel billet weighing, thermal imaging temperature measurement, and discrepancies in water, electricity, and gas energy consumption statistics. Over the past three years, he has completed over 70 electrical digital transformation projects, generating more than 200 million RMB in economic value for the enterprise.

Thanks to the establishment and implementation of the "New Eight-Grade" vocational skill level system, Zhou Enhui, who started as a frontline electrician, was promoted to chief technician last year. Liu Jie, Director of the Suzhou Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau's Vocational Skills Appraisal Center, explained that the selection of chief technicians is independently conducted by enterprises through performance reviews, interviews, and comprehensive assessments, with the human resources department providing full supervision to ensure high standards are maintained. Zhang Xiucheng, Deputy Director of Shagang Group's Organization and Personnel Department, noted that relying on the "New Eight-Grade" system, the company has independently developed detailed evaluation criteria for electricians and metrologists. This criterion values practical skills over academic qualifications or seniority, focusing on on-site fault handling, digital transformation capabilities, and mentoring results, to identify true problem-solvers that better meet the needs of intelligent steel manufacturing.

"For workers in private enterprises, the 'New Eight-Grade' system is a tangible benefit that makes 'skills changing your destiny' a reality," Zhou Enhui said. He added that workers now have a clear career path and can advance based on their work performance, making them more committed to staying on the front lines and deepening their skills. "Recently, Suzhou has been running promotional activities for highly skilled talent, where those with skill level certificates can enjoy exclusive discounts on home appliances and domestic services. It gives us skilled workers a greater sense of recognition." Jiangsu Province has encouraged 40 large and medium-sized enterprises to participate in pilot programs for evaluating special-grade technicians and chief technicians this year, with expectations to certify no fewer than 70 special-grade technicians and 15 chief technicians by the end of the third quarter. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Jiangsu will expand the "New Eight-Grade" system in terms of scale, enterprise types, and evaluation conditions, launching pilot programs in industries like modern services and "one old, one small" sectors where certified skilled talent is relatively scarce. The province will also gradually expand eligible enterprises from state-owned and large private companies to include various small and medium-sized enterprises, providing evaluation pathways for their workers, as well as for flexible and new-form employment.

In the first half of this year, China deepened the implementation of the "New Eight-Grade" vocational skill level system, which has continued to strengthen the skilled workforce. A total of 4.819 million people obtained vocational qualification or skill level certificates, including 1.936 million at the senior worker level or above, and 141,000 at the technician level or above. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security official stated that the country will further implement this system, strongly support enterprise-led independent evaluations, optimize social evaluation agencies, and research and formulate regulations on skilled talent evaluation to ensure its healthy development.

Strengthening Talent Cultivation in High-Demand Fields and Promoting School-Enterprise Cooperation

Ma Chengbin, a student specializing in electrical automation at Shandong Wantong Technical School, part of the Xinhua Education Group, is currently focused on PLC (Programmable Logic Controller) training. "Our courses closely mirror real factory production scenarios. For example, I'm simulating the construction of an industrial assembly line control system, where I need to independently complete electrical control cabinet wiring, sensor debugging, and finally achieve automatic start-stop of the entire equipment, multi-station linkage, and fault alarms," Ma said.

The electrical automation major, which Ma is enrolled in, is a new addition to the school in the past two years. The institution has recruited senior engineers and project managers from intelligent manufacturing enterprises as full-time teachers, invited provincial-level electrical skill assessment experts and chief engineers from equipment factories to teach on campus, and organized its own teachers for regular training stints at partner enterprises. They also bring enterprises in for practical training exercises. Data from the second quarter of this year shows that the demand-to-supply ratio for trades like welders, lathe operators, and mechanical equipment installers in Shandong has exceeded 2. As intelligent manufacturing accelerates, the shortage of versatile electrical automation talent is widening. "After graduation, students can find jobs in school-enterprise cooperative intelligent manufacturing equipment companies, new energy plants, and rail transit supporting units," said Duan Mengyu, a practical training instructor.

Li Yongpeng, Executive Deputy General Manager of Xinhua Education Group's Second Automobile Division, said that last year, the group's over 200 institutions opened more than 380 targeted order-based classes in intelligent manufacturing and electrical automation, channeling over 15,000 skilled workers directly to partner enterprises. According to the Shandong Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security, starting from the autumn 2025 semester, all technical colleges in the province have made artificial intelligence general courses a compulsory part of the curriculum, with no fewer than 32 class hours. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Shandong will deepen school-enterprise cooperation, encourage the establishment of "factories in schools" and "schools in factories," and build about 20 provincial-level high-skilled talent training bases.

An official from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security stated that the country will implement a plan to build high-quality technical colleges, establishing a number of excellent technician colleges and 100 high-quality majors. This includes fostering technical education alliances or groups to enhance the capacity for training skilled personnel and better meet the nation's evolving economic needs.