Skilled Workers' Status - Pay on Track for a Raise

A technician tests a PDS intelligent pressuretransmitter at a workshop in Chongqing.

China plans to improve the salaries and social status of skilled workers as increasing demand has resulted in a human resources shortage.

The central government has invested more than 2 billion yuan ($311.8 million) to enhance the country's capability of training skilled talent, and improvements have been made in their work.

Currently, there are 476 State-level training bases for highly skilled talent and 594 specially established workshops for masters who can train apprentices.

The number of highly skilled talent in the country reached more than 47.9 million by the end of 2016, according to a statement from the Professional Capacity Building Department, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

Despite the achievement, there is still a shortage in the number of skilled workers and an imbalance in structure.

The capacity to train the people needed for the emerging industries is still inadequate, which hinders the cultivation of such workers. Meanwhile, skilled workers see more challenges in their career development due to low wages and a diminished social status, it said.

Officials are drafting policies on the welfare of highly skilled workers. In addition to an all-around improvement in skilled workers' salary and allowances, these policies also aim to upgrade skilled workers' social status and make them prouder of the jobs they do, it said.

China has also increased investment in skilled workers' schools and technical institutes. Yang Jingyuan, the principal at Yunnan Transport Technician College in Yunnan province, said the government is investing more than 400 million yuan in his school from 2016 to 2020, which is "much more than the total the government invested in the past 30 years".

Source: China Daily

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