Making money more than fun and games

The government said it plans to officially add 10 new job categories to the occupation list. They include internet marketers who promote products through livestreaming sessions, 3D printing equipment operators, senior health condition assessors, blockchain application operators, online learning service providers and information safety testers, said the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on May 11.

For instance, in 2018, nearly 1 million 3D printing machines were sold in China, with sales revenue hitting 9.98 billion yuan. From 2014 to 2018, the annual compound sales growth rate of the 3D printing industry was 33.4 percent, indicating a significant growth potential for 3D printer operators, according to consultancy Frost & Sullivan.

Meanwhile, Meituan Dianping drove the creation of 19.6 million jobs in 2018, including 2.7 million delivery jobs and more than 16 million jobs in catering, taxi-hailing and shared-bike retailers, according to research from Renmin University of China.

Shanghai, Beijing, Zhejiang province's Hangzhou and Jiangsu province's Suzhou saw residents engaged in new professions net the highest salaries, according to the report.

Those born in the 1980s and 1990s have taken up 90 percent of the new jobs in China's emerging services sector, and 22 percent of them were born after 1995. Seventy-percent of new job holders have degrees from junior colleges or below, and the evolving sector has provided more employment opportunities for graduates with proficiencies in particular skills, the report said.

Among the total, 55 percent of new job practitioners have monthly salaries over 5,000 yuan. And 24.6 percent, mainly those who work with pets, wedding planning, entertainment or at beauty clinics, have monthly salaries of more than 10,000 yuan, the report found.