Beijing: As the head of a third-party wholesale delivery operations company for e-commerce giant Meituan in central China’s Hubei province, Jiang Zeyu, 31, is busy interviewing new employees.
A growing number of restaurant businesses in China are embracing online services, making the demand for digital experts greater and more work for people like Jiang.
By visiting merchants, assessing business conditions, optimizing grocery production and online operations, Jiang and his team provide grocery management services, helping merchants expand brand exposure while increasing profits.
“Seeing the average monthly income of the merchants we serve increase by more than 60 percent is a strong achievement for me. There is a huge market potential for digital capabilities in food manufacturing and elsewhere,” said Jiang.
Jiang is one of a growing community of experts in China who are driving the transformation of several industries into an intelligent future. The booming digital economy in various fields has created a huge demand for various digital skills and digital talent and has created a broad platform for career development.
In 2023, the added value of the key sectors of China’s digital economy will exceed 12 trillion yuan (about 1.69 trillion US dollars) and account for about 10 percent of GDP.
Li Jinsheng, an official of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, said the key to the growth of the digital economy is to accelerate the development of digital talent and train a large number of high-level digital engineers and skilled workers.
It is estimated that to meet the demand of China’s digital economy, there will be 25 million to 30 million digital professionals to fill the gap.
China has stepped up its efforts in recent years to develop the professional portion of the digital economy, including the development of national professional standards for digital skills and the development of special training courses.
In the latest version of the list of recognized professions published in 2022, for the first time, 97 professions related to the digital industry have been added, including internet marketing specialists and digital twin program technicians.
In April 2024, the government announced a three-year plan to develop talent to drive the growth of the digital economy. This initiative aims to increase support for digital talent by strengthening various programs and policies.
The new policy outlines six key initiatives, including training of digital engineers, development of digital skills and international exchange for digital talent. It also called on educational institutions and businesses to play their part in increasing the supply of talent.
In 2020, Meituan partnered with the country’s Ministry of Human Resources to implement a food delivery operation training project that has so far trained tens of thousands of food producers in the catering industry and more than 100,000 small and medium businesses.
In China’s southwest Guizhou province, the leader of China’s digital economy, the academy has established a relevant department, where 20 training centers for big data professionals have been identified.
The number of big data professionals will reach 430,000 in 2023, said Chan Tao, who is in charge of manpower and talent development for the province’s big data industry.
“However, we need more highly skilled professionals and research talent,” he said.
