China jobs: focus on technical colleges as answer to labour shortages in manufacturing
- Demand for vocational graduates outstrips supply even as lockdowns cloud the economic horizon
- Colleges should partner with companies to make sure training programmes align with essential work skills, ministry says
China is trying to encourage more students to pursue technical education as it tries to reduce labour shortages in the manufacturing sector and retain its place as the world’s factory.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said on Friday that the country is aiming to enrol at least 1.4 million students at technical colleges in the coming academic year.
“[The colleges] need to expand recruitment … and come up with training programmes for different groups of students, including full-time, part-time and occupational training,” the ministry said.
“[The colleges] should focus on career development and set up majors closely aligned with socio-economic development. [The country] encourages technical colleges to widely partner with companies, and improve training programmes to integrate education with work skills.”
As labour costs and automation rates rise, the world’s second-biggest economy is ambitious to transition to tech-driven intelligent manufacturing, shifting focus to the kind of higher value-added products that Beijing is counting on as future drivers of the economy.
But a lack of systematic occupational training and willingness among young people to work in factories has led to a dearth of skilled manufacturing workers and engineers, compounding the pressure on manufacturers.