Wanted: Top-notch innovators

Skilled workers to be cultivated to create new growth for slowing economy

THE republic will step up training of skilled workers even as it embarks on education reforms to cultivate “top-notch innovators” to create new sources of growth for a slowing economy.

While the country’s skilled labour force now exceeds 200 million, out of which more than 60 million are considered highly skilled, there is still a lack of front-line technicians such as elderly caregivers, fitters and welders, said Wang Xiaoping, China’s Minister of Human Resources and Social Security.

Speaking at a press conference on March 9, Wang said her ministry wants to increase young people’s willingness to learn skills and enter factories as well as organise more vocational skill competitions in the hope of building a critical mass of knowledge- and skill-based workers.

“For example, we will carry out the cultivation of skilled talents in digital technology and strengthen the foundation of talents in the fields of intelligent manufacturing, big data, blockchain and integrated circuits,” she said.

She was speaking on the sidelines of the Two Sessions, China’s annual parliamentary meetings, held amid international attention on what the Chinese government will do to boost economic confidence and growth.

China met its official gross domestic product (GDP) target of around 5% in 2023 but faces continued challenges such as an ailing property sector, surging local government debt and high youth unemployment as well as trade and geopolitical tensions with Western countries.

But in recent months, Beijing has used a new term – “new productive forces” – to signal that it wants to turn to high-tech and innovative industries in areas such as electric vehicles, solar panels and lithium-ion batteries as a new model of economic development.

The term was coined by President Xi Jinping in September 2023 and used for the first time in the Chinese government’s annual work report delivered on March 5 by Premier Li Qiang, who called for coming up with science and tech innovations to raise productivity and foster new growth drivers.

At the same press conference on March 9, Education Minister Huai Jinpeng said reforms in the education system were needed to deepen the cultivation of “topnotch” innovative talents to bring about the development of “new productive forces”.

Such talents are “the most important strategic resource to enhance the core competitiveness of the country”, supporting the move towards “scientific and technological self-reliance”, he said.

More support will be given to young science and tech talents in universities, said Huai.

“We have to provide them steady support early on in their career – allow them trial and error and tolerate failure – so that these young talents dare to break new ground and produce novel and disruptive outcomes,” he said.

In schools, science education will be further promoted with the aim of stimulating primary and secondary school students’ “curiosity, imagination and desire for exploration through practical education”.

Beijing has pushed for greater tech self-reliance and national security over economic growth in recent years.

Premier Li’s 5% GDP growth target for 2024, which he announced on March 5, was widely viewed as ambitious.

The World Bank projects that China would grow by 4.5% in 2024, with the International Monetary Fund expecting growth of 4.6%. — The Straits Times/ann