Apprentice program to foster high job skills

Following a series of pilot projects, China is expected to promote a new model of apprenticeship to foster high-end skilled workers.

"Apprenticeship is an essential means to promote skill development and realize successful transitions from school to work," said Yin Weimin, minister of Human Resources and Social Security.

"The initiative is for building high-quality apprenticeships and developing a workforce that possesses strong capabilities in both theory and practice and meets the needs of the labor market," Yin said after the G20 Labor and Employment Ministerial Meeting on Wednesday.

Yin said skill development has always been a key topic of the G20 Labor and Employment Ministerial Meeting.

In August, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security promoted a new model of apprenticeship that combines company training with vocational schools. Every one of the total 13 provinces or municipalities chose three to five enterprises involving about 7,000 people. Everyone under the pilot project was a worker as well as a student.

Yu Zhiwei, vice-president of LinkedIn China, said the mismatch of the labor market has two aspects.

"On one hand, we have an excessively large group of medium- and low-skilled workers who cannot find proper jobs; on the other hand, we have an acute shortage of professionals, innovative talent and high-end talent."

According to The Human Capital Report 2016 released by the World Economic Forum, approximately 25,000 new workers will enter the labor market in developing countries every day until 2020, while more than 200 million people globally continue to be out of a job. Yet, simultaneously, there is expected to be a shortage of some 50 million high-skilled job applicants over the coming decade.

Li Shanxiang, deputy head of human resources at Linyi Mining Group in Shandong province, said the company has signed a contract with Shandong Coal Technician College, aiming to leverage the skill level of 100 medium-skilled workers in two years.

"We are very keen to cultivate our workers into high-skilled ones. The new apprenticeship model provides one teacher for three to five apprentices and provides special training for them."