China's latest job classification update highlights digital and green professions

Digital and green occupations dominated China's latest official job classification update, with nearly three-quarters of the 11 newly added professions falling into the two groups as China works to shift the economy toward high-tech and low-carbon growth.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security announced the update Wednesday, adding 11 professions and 23 job categories.

Five of the 11 new roles, including digital twin engineers, embodied intelligence robotics operators and industrial product digital modelers, are classified as digital professions.

Three — microgrid administrators, hydrogen fuel cell manufacturing workers and electrolytic water hydrogen production workers — are designated green. The microgrid administrator role counts as both.

China now recognizes 113 digital occupations and 142 green occupations in its national classification system.

The country's core digital economy industries generated 14.09 trillion yuan ($2.1 trillion) in value added in 2025, or 10.05 percent of GDP, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

"The sustained expansion of digital occupations clearly maps out the core direction of industrial digital transformation," the ministry said in a statement, adding that the growing green job categories are a shorthand for China's push to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.

Other new professions address industrial upgrading and consumer needs, including sustainability planners, sports data analysts, low-altitude logistics operators, aging-adaptation renovation designers and incense artisans.

The ministry said the update would open more diverse career pathways, improve the alignment between vocational training and market demand and support orderly growth in emerging sectors.

It pledged to accelerate the development of professional standards for the new occupations and boost workforce training to underpin high-quality economic development.