CHINA

China’s Labor Market Pivots Toward AI and Service Sectors

Published: Jan. 28, 2026 10:56 a.m. GMT+8

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Engineers test robots in Hangzhou, Dec. 10, 2025. Photo: Wu Junyi/China News Service/VCG

China’s labor market ended 2025 on a dual track, with intense hiring growth concentrated in the high-tech manufacturing sectors favored by Beijing and an expanding modern service economy.

According to reports released recently by major recruitment platforms, the fourth quarter of 2025 saw a distinctive surge in demand for talent related to “new quality productive forces” — a government slogan referring to advanced technology and manufacturing— as well as modern services.

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China’s 2025 labor market saw strong hiring in high-tech manufacturing and modern services, driven by advanced sectors like robotics, defense, and AI.
AI job openings grew sharply (up to 110.1% for algorithm engineers, 43.1% industry-wide), with top salaries reaching 25,236 yuan monthly.
Service industries also expanded, with O2O life services job postings up 62.7% and blue-collar average salaries rising 4.2% in major cities.

AI generated, for reference only

Who’s Who

Zhaopin: Zhaopin is a leading Chinese recruitment platform. Their fourth-quarter 2025 labor market report highlighted a surge in demand for talent in advanced technology, manufacturing, and modern services. They noted significant growth in high-end equipment manufacturing, information technology, new materials, and new-energy vehicles. Zhaopin's data indicated high salaries and low competition for specific technical roles like electrical and control engineers. They also reported a 62.7% year-over-year increase in job postings for online-to-offline (O2O) life services.

Liepin: Liepin is a major headhunting platform in China. Its 2025 Talent Supply and Demand Trend Report indicates that the AI industry experienced significant growth, leading all sectors with a 43.1% increase in new job postings for the year. This platform also highlighted that the internet sector still holds the largest share of new job postings on its platform.

58.com: 58.com is a classifieds platform predominantly used by service and manual labor workers in China. According to the article, it reported that manufacturers increased hiring at the end of 2025 to meet production targets, coinciding with local government consumption incentives. The platform indicated that the average recruitment salary for blue-collar jobs in top cities reached 8,248 yuan in Q4 2025.

AI generated, for reference only