A NUMBER of new occupations have emerged amid China’s shift to higher-quality growth, reflecting the vitality of the country’s new economy and creating promising job opportunities.

These occupations, ranging from robot engineering technicians to building energy conservation consultants, offer a glimpse into how far China has gone in pushing for development that is innovation-driven and low-carbon, and meets the public’s demand for better lives.

Fu Linghui, spokesperson with the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), told a press conference Friday that China is seeing continued economic transformation and upgrading with innovation impetus continuing to grow in August. The spokesperson added that the fast recovery of the service sector contributed more to economic growth last month.

Powered by the emergence of innovative industries, new business forms and models, China’s new growth driver index jumped 28.4% in 2022 from a year ago to hit 766.8, according to the NBS.

Thanks to Zhang Shourong and other R&D technicians from the logistics robot company Geek+ in Beijing, robots have remarkably enhanced warehouse efficiency.

“The type of warehouse work that used to require hard manual labor, such as moving and picking cargo, can now be increasingly handled by robots,” said Zhang.

“It’s my job to make these robots more efficient and stable to meet clients’ demand.”

Robot engineering technician is among the 18 new occupations announced by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security in June 2022.

China’s robot industry’s annual growth averaged 22% from 2017 to 2022, according to an industry report published by the Chinese Institute of Electronic. Robot application scenarios have also expanded fast.

NBS data show that in the first eight months of this year, investment in high-tech industries grew 11.3% year on year, and investment in scientific research and technological services surged 22.3%.

With the robust development of the robotics sector, the demand for talent is surging, said Dong Kai, who is in charge of policy research with the China Center for Information Industry Development under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). (Xinhua)