China recognises 13 new tech jobs including AI developers, e-sports players and drone pilots

While not conferring any direct financial benefit, being added to the list does signal that such professions could receive more government support in future

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People fly drones to spray pesticide in Jixian County, in northern China's Shanxi province, on April 25, 2017. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 6:30am, 5 Apr 2019Updated: 9:18am, 5 Apr 2019

China’s government has recognised over two dozen new jobs as official professions, signalling the country’s intent to develop talent in a wide range of tech sectors from artificial intelligence (AI) to the Internet of Things to e-sports.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Wednesday published a list of 13 new job titles that include professional gamers, drone pilots, robotics operators and software engineers in areas like AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), big data and cloud computing.

The new additions were approved on April 1 by three government bodies, including China’s statistics bureau and the human resources ministry, following a draft notice seeking public opinions in January. It marks the first time since 2015 that authorities have included new jobs into a list of nearly 19,000 official professions in China.

While not conferring any direct financial benefit, being added to the list does signal that such professions could receive more government support. Such a list serves as a guidance for government policies and rules about creating new jobs, offering vocational training, and assessing professional skills standards, among other things.

“These 13 new occupations are mainly in the hi-tech field, which has high demand for the knowledge and skills owned by practitioners,” according to a statement published by the human resources ministry.