Drone swarm flight path planners summon drones back to base following a drone light show in Chongqing Municipality on May 17. Photo: IC PHOTO

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China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security recently released a draft list of 17 new professions—including cross-border e-commerce operations manager and drone swarm flight path planner—as well as 42 new types of work derived from existing professions, such as gold appraisal specialist, custom travel photographer, and generative AI systems tester. Experts have lauded the initiative, emphasizing that these additions not only reflect the strong momentum of industrial upgrading but also offer vivid testimony to China’s pursuit of high-quality economic and social development.

Mirroring economic transformation 

New industries, new business formats, and new models are continually giving rise to new professions, which in turn reflect broader shifts in China’s social and economic development. Cheng Mingwang, deputy dean of the School of Economics and Management at Tongji University, noted that the latest round of new professions and types of work is concentrated in emerging sectors, high-tech industries, and modern services. These roles are marked by digitalization, green development, and upgraded consumer services—trends that signal the country’s ongoing digital transformation, a shift toward health-centered services and the rapid growth of the green economy. 

For instance, the role of drone swarm flight path planners has emerged alongside the rise of the low-altitude economy and smart logistics. The appearance of generative AI systems testers reflects growing demand across the full AI development cycle—from research to application. Meanwhile, the rise of elder care service providers and custom travel photographers speaks to the intersecting forces of an aging population and consumption upgrades, Cheng articulated. 

Zhang Chenggang, director of the Research Center for New Forms of Employment at the Capital University of Economics and Business, attributes the emergence of new professions to several key drivers: a technological revolution driving advances in productive forces, the green transformation reshaping industrial logic, and evolving consumer demand calling for greater service specialization. These trends are also propelling the growth of new business formats. The role of cross-border e-commerce operations managers, for example, reflects China’s practical need for transformation in foreign trade.

“This batch of new professions and new types of work demonstrates that the Chinese economy is transitioning from the traditional industry-dominated model to one marked by advanced technology, high added value, and high-quality services,” Zhang explained. 

“The recently announced new professions and types of work are clearly driven by technological innovation, and also include new jobs arising from the digital transformation of traditional industries and new consumer demands for personalization.” In the view of He Yu, a research fellow from the Institute of Social Policy at the Jiangsu Academy of Social Sciences, some of the new professions feature both “technological intensity” and a “human touch.” For example, a gold appraisal specialist must not only master spectral analysis but also understand traditional culture and consumer psychology; an elder care provider must integrate smart device operation with humanistic care. 

“This demand for compound talent with ‘hard skills and soft power’ is a typical characteristic of the labor market in the stage of high-quality development,” He Yu said.

Promoting standardized development

Despite the promising outlook for these new professions, their sustainable development remains hampered by issues such as ambiguous rights frameworks, a lack of industry standards, and outdated training systems. The newly established information release system for new professions confers official recognition, helping to promote standardization while injecting fresh momentum into industrial development. 

Official recognition marks the first step toward standardization of these emerging roles. Zhu Di, head of the Department of Consumption and Cultural Sociology at the Institute of Sociology under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that institutional recognition not only strengthens labor and employment protections for groups employed in new forms and new business formats, but will also assist practitioners to map out career paths and promotion trajectories. Such recognition will simultaneously offer significant support for emerging industries and new business formats. 

For contemporary youth in particular, Zhu noted, career choices are increasingly intertwined with lifestyle and personal interests, making individual lifestyles an important driver of career development. By responding to evolving employment trends and expanding the range of options, the new profession information release system can help promote both employment and youth career development—thereby energizing broader economic and social progress.

“The core significance of the new profession information release system lies in dynamically identifying the demand for new skills in the context of economic and social development, thus enhancing the responsiveness of the labor market,” Zhang asserted. He believes that officially incorporating new professions into the National Occupational Classification Code not only enables institutionalized recognition across training, assessment, and employment statistics, but also raises public awareness and occupational appeal. For industry, the system supports better alignment between talent supply and market demand while contributing to the establishment of sector-wide standards and norms. 

“The introduction of new professions will help promote the healthy development of new occupational standards and better protect the rights of practitioners and consumers, while providing more professional talent for industrial development,” He Yu echoed. Citing elderly care service provision as an example, he pointed out that in the past, the industry suffered from uneven service quality due to a lack of unified standards, leading to poor consumer trust. The establishment of a vocational certification and skill level assessment system is driving the transformation of elderly care service provision from a fragmented, informal practice toward a more professionalized workforce—fostering a virtuous cycle of improved service quality, growing demand, and industrial upgrading.

Edited by CHEN MIRONG