He noted that China is pursuing an employment-friendly development model, co-ordinating its employment-first goals with fiscal and industrial policies–an approach he said is also worth learning from and sharing among economies.

The job market is the front line of policy efforts. In July, China issued policies to promote AI applications in human resources and social security, with a focus on employment and talent development. The measures called for assessing AI’s impact on jobs, encouraging innovation that creates more employment opportunities, and expanding AI training and skills assessment to help workers adapt to an AI-powered economy.

China is also creating new pathways into the evolving labour market. In September, China officially recognised 11 new occupations and 23 new specialties within existing occupations, including embodied intelligence robot technician and AI agent developer–formalising new career paths emerging alongside technological change.