Skilled talent's role in national growth takes spotlight

A total of 1,385 participants from 68 countries and regions have gathered in Shanghai for the 48th WorldSkills Competition — a global contest that experts and foreign business representatives described as a powerful showcase of China's skilled workforce and the country's push for high-quality economic growth.

China is represented by a 220-member delegation at the event, which runs from Tuesday through Sunday. Its 71 contestants are competing across all 64 skills, a milestone that underscores the strength of the nation's skilled talent pool, officials said. The Chinese competitors, with an average age of 21, comprise 49 students and 22 workers from across the country.

This is the eighth time that China has competed in the biennial event and the third time its contestants are taking part in every skill.

Skilled talent serves as the backbone of China's manufacturing innovation and industrial upgrading. President Xi Jinping has repeatedly highlighted the critical role played by young skilled professionals in advancing the nation's high-quality development.

Xi has emphasized the importance of skilled workers and vocational education on multiple occasions while on inspection tours nationwide.

During a 2015 visit to a vocational school in Guizhou province, he told students that all walks of life need both large cohorts of science and technology talent and skilled practitioners, encouraging young people to be fully confident about their career prospects.

In 2019, while visiting a school in Zhangye, Gansu province, Xi noted that China's economy should be underpinned by the real economy, which requires a large number of professional and technical personnel and master craftsmen. He stressed the broad prospects and enormous potential of vocational education.

During a 2021 visit to Minjiang University in Fuzhou, Fujian province, Xi said that higher education institutions should not only nurture research-focused talent, but also adopt an application-oriented philosophy of education to equip young people with skills to meet society's demands.

Premier Li Qiang also emphasized the importance of nurturing skilled talent.

At the opening ceremony of the WorldSkills Conference 2026 in Shanghai on Wednesday, Li said that since the start of reform and opening-up, "Made in China" products and "Chinese Services" have been gaining increasing recognition around the world, and this can be attributed to the diligence and ingenuity of the Chinese people, in whose life skills play an irreplaceable role.

"We will keep improving the vocational education and training system serving all workers and covering the whole life cycle, so that more workers can get continuous mid-career 'recharge' and their skills can light up their road to a better life," Li said.

This national push to build a skilled workforce also strikes a chord with foreign business leaders in China.

Michael Hart, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said that the availability of skilled labor is a core reason why many United States-based companies keep investing and thriving in China.

The chamber's member enterprises consider the country not merely a manufacturing site, but also an innovation hub, Hart noted.

"China, the world's second-largest economy, continues to grow at a reasonable rate, and skilled labor is certainly an important part of that," Hart said. Skilled labor will sustain China's growth, and US companies operating in the country are eager to remain part of China's success story, he added.

Competitive edge

China joined WorldSkills International, the governing body of the WorldSkills Competition, in 2010 — six decades after the first contest kicked off in Madrid, Spain. Since joining, Chinese competitors have won 93 gold medals, sitting atop both the gold medal tally and overall team rankings for four straight competitions.

In 2019, Xi made important instructions following China's strong performance at the 45th WorldSkills Competition in Kazan, Russia.

He emphasized that worker quality is vital to a country and nation's development. Skilled technicians provide a critical foundation for China's manufacturing and innovation, and play an important role in driving high-quality economic growth.

He called for better systems to train, employ, assess and reward skilled workers, expanded technical education and broad vocational training to nurture greater numbers of high-quality workers and technical specialists.

Xi also urged the whole of society to foster the craftsmanship spirit of pursuing excellence, and to motivate young people to achieve success through vocational skills and serve the nation with their abilities.

That ethos of dedication and precision resonates deeply with Huang Bolin, gold medalist in joinery at the 47th WorldSkills Competition held in Lyon, France.

Raised near his family's furniture workshop, Huang first studied furniture design and fabrication before switching to joinery at a vocational school in Guangzhou, Guangdong province — a choice that required him to learn the expertise from scratch. After more than 2,000 days of relentless training, Huang delivered his defining performance in Lyon. Over four days of competition, he outperformed international rivals with precision down to 0.1 millimeter. "When I stood on the podium wrapped in the national flag, what I felt was the weight of 'winning glory for the country' and the ultimate confirmation that persistence pays off," he said.

Now a teacher and coach at Guangzhou Light Industry Technician College, Huang passes on the lessons he learned from his competitive run. Even amid worries that artificial intelligence and robotics could displace workers, he remains confident that hand craftsmanship will survive.

"We have a kind of manual skill, and there are things machines simply cannot accomplish or completely replace us in doing," he said.

Broader skills lineup

For the Shanghai event, organizers have added seven new disciplines, ranging from unmanned aerial systems to intelligent security technologies, to reflect shifting industrial landscapes and technological advancement.

The gathering builds on China's long-time commitment to global vocational skill exchange.

In 2017, President Xi delivered a video address to the WorldSkills General Assembly, stating that hosting the WorldSkills competition in China would advance international exchanges and mutual learning in vocational skills.

The event would motivate Chinese people — particularly the country's nearly 200 million young people — to engage with and participate in skill-building initiatives, enabling China to contribute to the global skills development movement.

This vision for cross-border vocational cooperation has won wide recognition from foreign diplomats and representatives of international organizations, who acknowledge that China's vast skilled workforce is uniquely positioned to share practical expertise globally.

Changhee Lee, director of the International Labor Organization Country Office for China and Mongolia, described vocational skills training as a vital bridge connecting current employment with future career opportunities.

He said that elite global competitions set industry excellence benchmarks and drive international collaborative learning.

Backed by systematic national reforms to upgrade talent cultivation, China has expanded vocational skill training on a large scale.

According to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the country offered 92 million subsidized vocational training slots during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) period. To adapt to evolving market demands, authorities also launched 72 new professions and released 328 national occupational standards.

China boasts more than 80 million technical professionals and over 220 million skilled workers — including 72 million high-skilled talent — forming a robust talent foundation for achieving greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology and building a modern industrial system, the ministry said.

Francis Hourant, president of WorldSkills International, commended China for aligning its national vocational skills certification system with WorldSkills benchmarks. He said the alignment cultivates an internationally competitive skilled workforce in China, offering a replicable model for countries worldwide.