16 | Tuesday, July 23, 2019 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY BUSINESS Young employees turning to niche jobs
Professions linked economic structure adjustment in the country, said Fu Linghui, with customized spokesman of the National Bureau services becoming of Statistics at a news conference in June. popular, says Data from the bureau also showed China’s service industry Zhaopin report grew 7 percent yearonyear in the first half of 2019, outperforming the By CHEN MEILING overall GDP growth of 6.3 percent. [email protected] Though life service workers may signal low employment threshold New and unusual jobs are arous and unstable income, monthly sala ing the interest of young employees ry of over 50 percent of the report’s in China. Some of them have never interviewees surpassed 5,000 yuan been heard of by previous genera ($727.1), and about 25 percent tions — home party manager, pet exceeded 10,000 yuan. trainer, esports consultant, scalp Top earners were mainly involved therapist and photoshooting tour with pets, wedding service, child planner, to name a few. It shows the care, cosmetic medicine and enter Chinese service industry is under tainment, and often have going a consumption upgrading as professionalized skills that are hard more customized services are creat to find, it said. Senior maternity ed by the growing demands of cus matrons, for example, need to tomers and the booming internet, acquire knowledge such as nursing, experts said. breast feeding, infant massage and More than 90 percent of employ nutritional recipes, according to ees involved in emerging occupa Shao. tions in the service industry were Charlie Liu, IT practice leader and born after 1980, of which half are partner of global executive search from the 1990s and 22 percent were firm Heidrick & Struggles in China, born after 1995, according to a said though it’s good to see more report recently released by Chinese novel occupations springing up, online recruitment platform Zhao they would not likely be the main pin and ondemand service provid stream choices for the public, since er Meituan Dianping, based on the longterm career development responses from 9,784 participants. path is not clear. Industries covered include cater Shang Fei, 37, from Beijing, ing, hospitality, entertainment, cos A pet photographer takes pictures of a dog in a studio in Guangzhou, Guangdong province. CHINA NEWS SERVICE opened a home party space in 2011 metic medicine, training, weddings for consumers to play board games and parentchild interaction. The and sing karaoke. In 2016, he closed top five reasons for career choice of puzzles to escape. Most of the puz group. She told the 21st Century “Consumers ask for highquality, professionals to provide such servi it and founded a hotpot brand. were “positive about the future of zles and decorations are based on a Business Herald that she wants better experiences and more target ces.” He said fiveyear operation meets the industry”, “pure love”, “chance to script. Some involve role play. more people to accept hanfu as a ed services, which brings opportuni The demands of consumers have the ceiling of home party business. deal with different people”, “want to “It’s cool and exciting to bring special culture. She left her job with ty for talent with multiple and become more specific when the basis “Catering industry, instead, is close try new things” and “flexible work immersive experiences to custom a company in early 2018 to realize professional skills,” he said. of consumption has transformed from ly related to everyday life and more ing time”, it said. ers with whatever settings or stories her dream. “Only by doing things I Shao Heng, vicepresident of survival to enjoyment, she added. stable.” Tu Chao, 31, runs a room escape in your mind. It’s more real than like can my career go further.” knowledgesharing app Dedao, said In 2018, the number of employees Li from Zhaopin suggested brand in Chengdu after giving up watching a film,” he said, adding the Li Qiang, executive vicepresident in her online program that the scope in the service industry reached employees in the service industry his job as a mining engineer at a revenue is growing and the segment of Zhaopin, said these emerging of service has expanded so that new about 360 million, 10 million more should improve their professional Stateowned enterprise. Room is developing quickly in China. occupations have potential in the occupations are created. “In the than 2017. The sector developed skills, have continuous occupational escape refers to physical adventure Ke Xuan, in her 20s, is a stylist future as the life service industry, past, we did not think it necessary to faster and contributed more to training, enhance service awareness games when a group of people are specializing in hanfu, the ancient which is based on consumer demand, hire someone to take photos of pets employment than the industrial sec and learn more digital tools to locked up and have to solve a series clothing of China’s Han ethnic is upgrading in the Chinese market. or arrange rooms. Now there are tor over the past two years amid the achieve selfdevelopment. BELT & ROAD INITIATIVE Zhejiang set to unlock gains from digital economy
Chinese firm progressing By ZHENG YIRAN [email protected] with Padma Bridge project Zhejiang, an eastern coastal province in China, is banking on By LIU YUKUN in Beijing, LIU tricts with the country’s capital the digital economy, powered by KUN and ZHOU LIHUA in Wuhan Dhaka, and become a vital link Alibaba and a host of small and between southwest Bangladesh and mediumsized enterprises, to Steel piling work on the $3.12 bil the northeast of the country. reach 4 trillion yuan ($588.23 bil lion Padma Bridge project, a multi According to project manager Liu lion) by 2022 and account for more purpose roadrail bridge across the Jianhua, the completion of the Padma than 55 percent of its gross domes Padma River in Bangladesh, was Bridge project will strengthen eco tic product, officials said. completed recently and the bridge is nomic ties between the southwest and During the past three years, sig expected to be opened by 2022, the northeast regions of Bangladesh. nificant strides have been made in according to a Chinese contractor “The bridge is likely to become an digitalization, thanks to the growth working on the project. important trade artery linking south of the digital economy. The milestone marks an impor west Bangladesh and the northeast of The province’s digital economy tant progress in the construction of the country, and also a valuable addition surged 15.1 percent yearonyear the twolevel steel truss bridge, as to the current shipping routes,” Liu said. during the first quarter. Its digital the construction was often chal Till now, goods are mainly trans economy totaled 2.33 trillion yuan lenged by severe weather conditions ported between southern and last year, accounting for 41.5 per like storms. The soft riverbed filled northern Bangladesh via shipping. cent of the local economy. with silt and sand also made the Md Shafiqul Islam, a director of “The development of the digital construction challenging as it had the project, said the bridge will offer economy is a major driving force higher requirements for stability. an alternative and important way of for both economic reform and According to the Wuhanbased transportation aside from shipping, social reform. This is why the gov China Railway Major Bridge Engi and the connection will facilitate ernment has given priority to neering Group Co Ltd, the bridge trade and economic development, building the digital economy,” said Visitors interact with an intelligent robot at an industrial exhibition in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, construction used some of the especially in less developed areas. Yuan Jiajun, governor of Zhejiang in May. LONG WEI / FOR CHINA DAILY world’s toplevel equipment for ham According to news reports from province, at a recent news confer mering. The team also invented new Bangladesh, the bridge is expected to ence in Beijing. ed as one of the first pilot cities for grates the public service apps from technologies to increase steel pipes’ boost the local GDP by 1.2 percent He said that to build the digital 5G networks in China.” 81 departments, and the province carrying capacity, and designs to when completed. The project has economy, the province had estab In terms of the three centers, The development of citycounty allinone public ser enhance the overall stability. already created over 5,000 jobs for lished three zones and three cen Yuan noted that the digital innova vice app now has over 25 million The construction was much harder local people, according to China Rail ters. The digital industrial zone tion center boosts the marketiza the digital economy registered users and 7.24 million than expected and many construc way Major Bridge Engineering Group. incubates new business models tion of the digital economy, the is a major driving daily active users. A total of 385 tion plans at certain phases even Wang Xiaosong, a professor in eco and distinctive towns, such as the trade center facilitates crossborder livelihood issues can be addressed came out days before being put into nomics at Renmin University of China, Yunqi Cloud Town in Hangzhou. ecommerce, while the financial force for both through the app. action, said Shen Tao, deputy general said the project is likely to become a The industry digitization zone center promotes the integration of economic reform The private economy is also sup manager of the project. vital transportation artery for Bangla mainly increases the production the digital economy and the tradi porting Zhejiang’s digital econo Upon completion, the bridge will desh, and marks an important part of efficiency of traditional industries tional finance industry. and social reform.” my. Data from the State Council have two levels, with the upper tier Stateowned companies’ contribu through digital transformation. Che Jun, secretary of the Zheji Yuan Jiajun, governor of Information Office showed that having a fourlane highway and the tions to the Belt and Road Initiative. Internet Plus, Robot Plus, and Big ang Provincial Committee of the Zhejiang province currently, the private economy lower tier a single track railway. The Data Plus platforms empower tra Communist Party of China, said accounted for 65 percent of Zheji 6.15kilometer bridge will connect Contact the writers at ditional industries. that “building the digital economy ang’s GDP, and contributed to 74 southwestern Bangladesh’s 21 dis [email protected] According to Yuan, through is our top project, through which percent of the tax income and 77 process optimization and technol traditional industries are trans as the Alibaba Damo Academy for percent of the export volume. Up ogy advancement, industries can formed and optimized, and the Discovery, Adventure, Momentum to 93 percent of the enterprises in save tens of millions of yuan of innovative ability and competitive and Outlook. Zhejiang are private enterprises, costs. Zhejiang’s industrial labor edge of Zhejiang is enhanced”. “We will continue to support the creating 78 percent of the local productivity per person above a He added that taking advantage digital transformation of Zhejiang. employment. designated size increased from of the integrated development of Our new retail network increases From 2016 to 2018, the govern 167,800 yuan in 2013 to 225,000 the Yangtze River Delta region, efficient supply, fintech innovation ment’s tax cuts and fee reductions yuan in 2018. Zhejiang will continue to develop offers financial services to small totaled 424.5 billion yuan, and the The third zone is the digital econ its digital economy. and mediumsized enterprises and goal for this year is 200 billion omy innovative coordination zone, Gao Hongbing, vicepresident of consumers, while smart logistics yuan. The government is making where the government gives favor ecommerce giant Alibaba Group, a accelerate the construction of intel efforts to offer private enterprises able policies to talents and symbol of Zhejiang’s digital econo ligent networks,” Gao said. financial assistance, as well as to advanced technologies. “While 5G my, said that the company is step According to Yuan, the digital reduce the project approval period. technology is gaining momentum, ping up efforts to boost the transformation of the Zhejiang “In the next step, we will contin the government of Zhejiang has province’s digital economy, by government is also promoting the ue to offer highquality services to attached great importance to the establishing institutions such as development of its digital econo private enterprises, and boost the The Padma Bridge project, a major project across the Padma River development of 5G networks. The the Zhejiang Lab for innovative my. The government’s online innovative development of the pri in Bangladesh, which is being built with Chinese cooperation. XINHUA capital city of Hangzhou was select research and development, as well administrative platform now inte vate economy,” Yuan said.