In Nan'an District, Chongqing, a drone flight engineer checks a drone. Unmanned aerial vehicle swarm flight planners, artificial intelligence trainers, elderly care service providers, carbon emission managers, and rural collective economy managers—these professions, previously little known just five years ago, are now emerging like mushrooms after the rain, becoming vibrant "growth poles" in the job market.
During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China has closely followed market trends to introduce 72 new professions across various fields, including digital economy, intelligent manufacturing, modern services, and green low carbon. These new roles not only signal economic structural optimization but also serve as a "new engine" for employment expansion, continually driving the qualitative and quantitative improvement of employment in China.
At the New Energy Vehicle Training Center of Anhui Wantong Technician College, instructors guide students in familiarizing themselves with the architecture of new energy vehicles.
From New Vocational Listings to New Job Opportunities
As night falls, nearly 10,000 drones take off on time, flying in an orderly formation and showcasing spectacular visual displays—a captivating fusion of technology and romance. The "author" of this scene is Yang Jie, a drone swarm flight planner from Shenzhen Desert Great Wisdom Control Technology Co., Ltd.
"Many people think we just make drones fly, but we also ensure they fly accurately and steadily," Yang tells reporters. They must not only possess programming skills to customize flight performance scripts but also evaluate and coordinate the flying environment and signals. Most importantly, they need to perfectly merge artistic aesthetics with cutting-edge technology, ensuring each drone reaches its designated position at the right time.
Currently, an increasing number of professionals like Yang Jie are becoming new forces in the job market. In July this year, China officially released its seventh batch of new professions, including elderly care service providers, cross-border e-commerce operations managers, drone swarm flight planners, renovation concierges, occupational injury prevention consultants, domestic services managers, rural collective economy managers, coffee processing workers, and more—17 new professions and 42 new job categories were incorporated into the National Occupational Classification Dictionary, entering a fast track for standard development.
Since the establishment of the new profession information release system in 2019, a total of seven batches have been published in China, totaling 110 new professions. The number of new profession applications has shown rapid growth, escalating from dozens annually to almost 400 applications for the seventh batch in August 2024. Among these, new professions in fields like intelligent manufacturing, information technology, and modern services account for about one-quarter of the total applications.
"We are vigorously developing new professions primarily to meet the new talent demands of high-quality economic development: First, to adapt to new trends in technological progress. Digital technologies such as artificial intelligence have birthed new professions like AI digital human trainers; second, to align with new changes in industrial structures. The green and low-carbon transition has sparked the emergence of green professions like new energy vehicle maintenance workers; third, to respond to new business formats in consumer activities. Emerging formats like low-altitude economy and online entertainment have given rise to professions like drone swarm flight planners and online learning service instructors," said a relevant official from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.
In Fujian, a tea art instructor teaches tea skills at Wuyishan Vocational Secondary School of Tourism.
From New Skill Inheritance to New Industrial Blueprint
In Qinghai, Ma Xueming, who has been making pulled noodles for over 20 years, now has a prestigious new title—"Beef Noodle Specialist." Each morning, as the aroma of bone broth bubbles in the old soup pot, bowls of fragrant noodles are served.
"Over 20 years ago, when I first learned the craft, my master always said that pulled noodles are '30% dough kneading and 70% broth,'" Ma shares, pointing out that traditional pulled noodles emphasize "one clear, two whites, three reds, and four greens," each requiring skill. However, when asked about his job, he would shy away from saying he was a "pulled noodle maker." "Now, I can confidently say I am a 'Beef Noodle Specialist.' This is not just a title, but an acknowledgment of my skill," Ma states.
Today, Qinghai pulled noodles have opened over 30,000 stores in more than 300 cities nationwide, with outlets in over 30 countries and regions, including Malaysia and Algeria, achieving operational revenue exceeding 20 billion yuan in 2024. The standard development work for the "Beef Noodle Specialist" profession has already commenced.
The emergence of new professions reflects the acceleration of economic transformation and upgrading. These contemporary positions serve as crucial indicators for observing the development of China's economy and embody the new trends in people's employment concepts and career choices.
The vigorous development of new professions has created significant employment scales. In Guangzhou, Guangdong, a small livestreaming studio has subdivided into dozens of new positions, such as product selection staff, video creators, and platform managers, fostering the development of three large factories and over ten smaller ones, while stabilizing the industrial chain and continuously nurturing new growth points. At a coffee market held in Shenyang, Liaoning, coffee processing workers are selling coffee beans.
From New Skill Enhancement to a New Development Ecology
"We are collaborating with vocational colleges to develop an industrial data collection training system that transforms enterprise cases into teaching resources. This system can train employees who will carry out industrial digitization and data collection implementation, as well as skill professionals in schools related to industrial digitization," said Zheng Fei, a senior product manager of the Rootcloud Education Division, showcasing their self-developed industrial data collection training system at the National Skills Competition for Industrial Internet Engineering Technology. As a vocational education training expert, Zheng is also involved in the formulation of national standards for new professions like industrial internet operators.
"The content of the industrial internet engineering technology contests is highly aligned with enterprise needs," said Chen Lifeng, general manager of the Rootcloud Education Division. In serving thousands of medium to large manufacturing enterprises in their digital transformation, Rootcloud has discovered an increasing demand for skilled personnel, frontline implementation engineers, and on-site engineers. "Currently, we cooperate with colleges in more than twenty provinces and municipalities nationwide to help them better train digital talent."
The rapid development of new professions imposes higher requirements for talent training. In 2025, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security will launch the "Skills Illuminate the Future" training initiative, focusing on high-quality productivity sectors and critical areas of public demand to enhance the vocational capabilities of new professionals. Presently, the interest in new vocational skills training is increasing in sync with the release of new professions, with some projects rapidly reaching full capacity upon launch.
"New professions are opening up new employment tracks, providing workers with broader and more diverse choices. We have also noticed that some workers, especially young individuals, are very interested in new professions but struggle with finding quick entry paths. Thus, we aim to expedite the formulation of national standards for new professions, clarifying the knowledge, skills, and working conditions required to provide a basis for training and evaluation; we will guide leading enterprises, industry organizations, and other social forces to participate in jointly developing training outlines and materials while enhancing the teacher workforce; and we will continuously increase training efforts, incorporating new professions into key fields, and guiding regions to conduct targeted training based on job and individual needs," said a related official from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. "We will continue to optimize supply and provide strong support for workers entering new professions."
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