China’s digital talent shortage is worsening as demand grows amid deepening economic restructuring, reports the South China Morning Post, citing studies by Zhaopin, Deloitte and Renrui HR. According to Zhaopin, smart manufacturing sector job listings rose by about 54% in 2022 from the previous year on the platform. The supply shortage was worst in fields ranging from software engineering to electronics and automation. Demand for technical talent has grown as China pushes for structural reform of its economy, seeking to transition from being the world’s factory to smarter and higher-end production. Smart manufacturing involves the use of emerging and advanced technologies to improve efficiencies.

Meanwhile, joint research by Deloitte and Renrui showed that the intelligent manufacturing sector was short of 4.3 million digital workers last year and the gap is expected to widen to 5.5 million by 2025.

China’s five-year plan to 2025 focuses on innovation-driven growth, aiming to build advanced manufacturing clusters and boost key industries including that for integrated circuits, robotics and engineering machinery. About half of the 2,500 firms surveyed said demand for digital talent was outpacing supply. The talent gap has left China facing an employment paradox. While there is mounting pressure to create jobs to tackle overall unemployment in a sluggish economy, manufacturers are struggling to recruit qualified staff as they reform and upgrade.