“Making factories more attractive is the key. Manufacturers should stop complaining about young people not wanting to work in factories and think more about how to improve their working conditions.” Zeng AO610 3BHT300008R1 Xiangquan suggested starting from multiple links such as rights and interests protection, institutional mechanisms, vocational education, and employment efficiency to ensure the transformation and upgrading of the manufacturing industry, so that more young people can embrace the real economy.

During the two sessions of the National People’s Congress this year, a motion on “encouraging young people to send less takeout and more into the factory” triggered hot debate, so that blue-collar “employment difficulties” and “recruitment difficulties” coexist predicament surfaced.

Data from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security show that in the third quarter of 2021, 58 of the 100 occupations in the country that are “most in need of jobs” are “manufacturing and related personnel”, and it is expected that by 2025, the talent gap in the ten key areas of China’s manufacturing industry will be nearly 30 million, with a gap rate of 48%.

Where are the “blue collar” workers who should be AO610 3BHT300008R1 working diligently and honing their skills? Why no longer aspire to become an indispensable “skilled craftsman” in the field?

“Not free” is one of the reasons for “escape”

Do live streaming, drive online car booking… With the emergence of the digital economy, flexible employment has opened up new employment ideas for young people. The National Bureau of Statistics disclosed that by the end of 2021, China’s flexible employment has reached 200 million people, compared with the total employment population of about 750 million, flexible employment has accounted for more than a quarter, many of them from the factory “escape”.

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AO610 3BHT300008R1 Race against time to send express, send takeout in the wind and rain… “Low pay, long working hours, and high intensity” are important reasons for many young workers to leave. Zhou Guangsu, an associate professor at Renmin University of China, believes that as an emerging industry, the labor productivity of the digital economy and the economic value it creates may “overshadow” many traditional industries. For example, different statistical caliber shows that the average monthly salary of takeaway riders is between 4,500 yuan and 5,000 yuan, and even tens of thousands of yuan, not to mention network anchors.

“Not free” is also one of the reasons why many young workers “flee”. Wu Duanhua, a deputy to the National People’s Congress and an auto worker at BAIC’s Zhuzhou branch, said that the employment concept and employment willingness of today’s highly educated young people are undergoing major changes: a job with free time and environment is far more attractive than some factory jobs that are “mechanical, repetitive and low in value.”

The shortage of “blue collar” has become a pressing AO610 3BHT300008R1 need for many enterprises. Zeng Xiangquan, a professor at the School of Labor and Human Resources at Renmin University of China and director of the China Institute of Employment Research, found in Qingdao, Shandong province, that many manufacturing and foreign trade enterprises are “frantically recruiting”, and even a company with more than 2,000 people hired 11 intermediary companies to help recruit. On the other hand, the employment pressure in urban and rural areas has increased, and many workers cannot find suitable jobs.

For this phenomenon of employment structure mismatch, Wu Duanhua believes that this is because there is a long-term information asymmetry and talent structure mismatch between blue-collar people and job demand, which seriously hinders employment efficiency. He believes that there is a widespread phenomenon of low education and low skills in China’s blue-collar groups, especially the lack of systematic training and learning among migrant workers, which does not match the job skills needed to upgrade the manufacturing industry. This is also an important reason for factory “recruitment difficulties”.