Skilled personnel form a critical foundation for China's manufacturing and innovation ambitions. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the country has seen substantial growth in its skilled workforce, with improved structure and more prominent contributions. The total number of skilled workers exceeds 220 million, including over 72 million highly skilled professionals, providing solid talent support for high-quality economic and social development.

As a new wave of technological revolution and industrial transformation accelerates, alongside rising demand for higher-quality and more refined livelihood services, higher requirements are being placed on skilled workers. In June this year, the State Council issued the 15th Five-Year Plan for Implementing the Employment Priority Strategy, followed in July by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security's release of its 15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Human Resources and Social Security Undertakings, both of which make systematic arrangements for large-scale vocational skills training. In September, the 48th World Skills Competition will be held in Shanghai, comprehensively showcasing China's achievements in skills development. How will China accelerate the building of a knowledge-based, skilled, and innovative workforce during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, cultivating more master craftsmen and highly skilled talents? A reporter spoke with human resources and social security departments, relevant enterprises, technical schools, and skilled workers themselves.

Addressing the Contradiction of "People Without Skills, Skills Mismatching Positions, and Positions Without People"

Building a lifelong vocational skills training implementation system and creating a "30-minute training circle", a recent artificial intelligence trainer training session was held at the Digital Skills Talent Public Training Base in Changsha, Hunan Province. After class, trainee Li Huan eagerly asked the instructor about determining data annotation precision standards, with the instructor providing detailed explanations using real enterprise cases. The 14-day training program progresses from basic to advanced levels, with practical tasks ranging from voice transcription standards to intelligent copy generation, filling each day with intensive learning. "It perfectly suits the learning pace of absolute beginners and gives me the confidence to transition into the digital industry," Li Huan said.

This year, Hunan has been conducting large-scale "one person, one skill" vocational training, focusing on skills needs across 12 key industrial chains, with priority given to helping migrant workers, college graduates, veterans, and people with disabilities address skills gaps. To strengthen training effectiveness, subsidy funds are directly linked to employment rates, certification rates, and salary fulfillment rates, further reinforcing the responsibility of training institutions. As of July 1, Hunan had trained 710,800 people this year, with artificial intelligence and elderly care services among the most popular fields. A representative from the Hunan Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security stated that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Hunan will conduct 5 million person-times of skills training, implement initiatives for migrant worker assistance, graduate advancement, course-certificate integration, and excellent technician development, and establish six mechanisms including a closed loop for production-training-assessment-employment, demand-supply matching, and skills evaluation, all aimed at resolving the structural contradiction of "people without skills, skills mismatching positions, and positions without people."

The proportion of skilled workers in the employed population rising from 30% in 2025 to 35% by 2030 is one of the main targets set in the 15th Five-Year Plan for Implementing the Employment Priority Strategy. An official from the Vocational Skills Development Department of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China will build a lifelong vocational skills training implementation system, conduct high-quality "skills illuminate the future" training initiatives, and organize targeted training programs around industrial development, enterprise recruitment, and worker employment needs in areas such as artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, low-altitude economy, new energy vehicles, and elderly care services. The country will comprehensively promote production-education-evaluation integration, order-based, and project-based training models, cultivate more skills ecology chains integrating production, education, and evaluation, create a "30-minute training circle," publish an electronic map of training public services, and provide workers with convenient and accessible training services.

Breaking Down Academic Credential and Seniority Barriers in Talent Selection

Deepening the implementation of the "new eight-grade" vocational skill level system and supporting enterprise-led independent evaluation, in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, dozens of industrial control hosts and data acquisition servers run continuously at Shagang Group's production dispatch center, with large screens displaying production data including rolling output, energy consumption, and temperature across the plant. Zhou Enhui, the company's chief technician, sits at the operations console, both monitoring real-time data and programming algorithm optimizations. The digital measurement and control management system he led the design of has resolved issues such as billet weighing, thermal imaging temperature measurement, and statistical discrepancies in water, electricity, and gas energy consumption. Over the past three years, he has completed more than 70 electrical digital transformation projects, creating cumulative economic value exceeding 200 million yuan for the enterprise. Thanks to the establishment and promotion of the "new eight-grade" vocational skill level system, Zhou Enhui, who started as a frontline electrician, was awarded the title of chief technician by his company last year.

Liu Jie, Director of the Vocational Skills Appraisal Center of Suzhou Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security, explained that the selection of chief technicians is completed independently by enterprises through performance evaluation, interviews, and comprehensive assessment methods. Human resources and social security departments supervise the entire process to ensure the review maintains high standards and stays true to its purpose. Zhang Xiucheng, Deputy Director of the Organization and Personnel Department of Shagang Group, said the company has independently formulated evaluation criteria for electricians and metrology staff based on the "new eight-grade" system, which does not prioritize academic credentials or seniority but focuses on assessing on-site fault handling, digital transformation capabilities, and mentoring outcomes, selecting practical talent capable of solving production line challenges and better meeting the needs of intelligent steel manufacturing development. "For workers in private enterprises, the 'new eight-grade' vocational skill level system is a tangible and accessible benefit that turns 'skills change destiny' into reality," Zhou Enhui reflected. Workers now have a dedicated career development path and can continue to advance based on work performance, making them more willing to stay rooted at the worksite and deepen their skills. "Recently, Suzhou has been conducting promotional activities for highly skilled talent consumption; those with skill level certificates can enjoy exclusive discounts on home appliances and housekeeping services, giving us skilled workers a greater sense of achievement."

According to the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security, this year Jiangsu encourages 40 large and medium-sized enterprises to participate in the pilot program for evaluating and employing special-grade and chief technicians, 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 coverage of the "new eight-grade" vocational skill level system reform in terms of scale, enterprise types, and evaluation conditions, launch breakthrough pilots in industries with relatively fewer skilled talent evaluations such as modern services and "elderly and child care," gradually expand the scope of participating enterprises from state-owned and large private enterprises to various small and medium-sized enterprises, and provide participation pathways for workers in SMEs, flexible employment, and new forms of employment. In the first half of this year, China deepened the implementation of the "new eight-grade" vocational skill level system, and the skilled workforce continued to grow, with 4.819 million people newly obtaining vocational qualifications or skill level certificates, including 1.936 million at or above the senior worker level and 141,000 at or above the technician level. The official from the Vocational Skills Development Department of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China will further implement the "new eight-grade" vocational skill level system, strongly support enterprise-led independent evaluations, optimize social evaluation institutions, research and formulate regulations for skilled talent evaluation, and promote the healthy development of skilled talent assessment work.

Strengthening Training Toward Talent Gaps and Encouraging School-Enterprise Cooperation for High-Quality Technical Education

Ma Chengbin, a student majoring in electrical automation at Shandong Wantong Technical School under Xinhua Education Group, is currently busy with PLC (programmable logic controller) special training. "Our courses closely match real factory production scenarios. For example, when I simulate building an industrial pipeline control system, 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 sound and light alarms," Ma Chengbin said. The electrical automation major that Ma Chengbin is studying was newly added by the school in the past two years. The school recruits senior engineers and project supervisors from intelligent manufacturing enterprises as full-time teachers, invites provincial-level electrical skills evaluation experts and chief engineers from equipment factories to teach on campus, while also organizing its own teachers to regularly pursue research at partner companies and inviting enterprises to conduct practical training on campus. Data shows that in the second quarter of this year, the job vacancy-to-applicant ratio for welders, lathe operators, and mechanical equipment installers in Shandong exceeded 2. As intelligent manufacturing accelerates, the gap for composite skilled talent in electrical automation continues to widen. "After graduation, students can join school-enterprise cooperative intelligent manufacturing equipment companies, new energy plants, and rail transit supporting units," said practical training instructor Duan Mengyu. Li Yongpeng, Deputy General Manager of the Second Automotive Business Division of Xinhua Education Group, said that last year, more than 200 schools under the group offered over 380 orientation classes in intelligent manufacturing and electrical automation, sending over 15,000 skilled personnel to targeted employers.

According to the Shandong Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security, starting from the 2025 autumn semester, all technical colleges across the province have made artificial intelligence general education courses compulsory, with no fewer than 32 class hours. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, Shandong will deepen school-enterprise cooperation, encourage the establishment of "schools within factories" and "factories within schools," and build approximately 20 provincial-level high-skilled talent training bases. The official from the Vocational Skills Development Department of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said that during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China will implement a plan to build quality technical colleges, establishing a number of excellent technical institutes and 100 quality majors, and cultivate a number of technical education alliances (groups) to enhance skilled talent cultivation capacity.