Major projects outlined in China's 15th Five-Year Plan are creating jobs that require stronger technical skills, more specialized expertise or broader cross-sector capabilities, challenging the long-held view that construction work is largely manual labor.

A closer look at the blueprint shows that these initiatives are far more than a list of investment and construction plans. Projects aimed at fostering new quality productive forces and those designed to improve people's livelihoods came in first and second by number, underscoring the country's development strategy that emphasizes investment in both physical assets and human capital.

Taken together, the projects offer a glimpse into how China's employment landscape is likely to evolve during the plan period. From skilled blue-collar roles in advanced infrastructure and manufacturing to high-end, cross-sector positions in emerging industries, the projects are expected to generate a broader, more diverse range of job opportunities.

SKILL UPGRADES IN BLUE-COLLAR WORK

Infrastructure projects still make up an important part of the new five-year plan. But the shift from extensive expansion to smart, green and digital development is fundamentally transforming traditional blue-collar jobs and raising the skill requirements.

This shift is evident across a wide range of infrastructure projects outlined in the plan, including a comprehensive national transportation network, a new-type energy system, modern water conservancy networks, and new infrastructure.

Zhang Linshan, a researcher at the Academy of Macroeconomic Research under the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said that in large-scale new energy bases in desert and Gobi regions, more than 70 percent of jobs are skilled blue-collar positions.

Such jobs require expertise in areas such as system commissioning and high-voltage operations, with certified operation and maintenance personnel earning 15,000 to 20,000 yuan (about 2,176 to 2,902 U.S. dollars) per month, he said.

The market has already sent clear signals. Data from Guangdong's human resources and social security authorities show that in the Pearl River Delta, some highly skilled blue-collar workers earn more than 10,000 yuan a month, while top technicians in positions such as testing can make as much as 20,000 yuan.

Wang Xiaoping, minister of human resources and social security, said China will deepen large-scale vocational skills training this year, with subsidized programs expected to benefit more than 10 million people.

Targeted training will focus on sectors such as the low-altitude economy, new energy vehicles, AI, and elderly care services, in a bid to better align skills development with industrial and employment needs, Wang said.

Experts said major national projects are no longer primarily a reservoir for absorbing low-skilled labor but are increasingly an important arena for blue-collar workers to upgrade their skills and raise their incomes.

HIGH-END TALENT IN GREATER DEMAND

About a quarter of the major projects in the blueprint are designed to develop new quality productive forces, covering sectors such as integrated circuits, embodied AI, biomanufacturing, and new-type batteries.

Experts said these projects require substantial investment and lengthy development cycles, with their core value lying not in short-term returns but in supporting national strategies and building long-term competitiveness. This forward-looking nature helps nurture and attract high-end talent.

Zheng Shanjie, head of the NDRC, said the scale of China's AI-related industries is expected to exceed 10 trillion yuan by the end of the 15th Five-Year Plan period.

A significant shortage of high-end AI talent has already emerged, intensifying competition among employers. In Shanghai, a human resources manager at an AI company is negotiating with a candidate for an algorithm engineer position who has already received five job offers and is still in talks with other firms.

A recent report by the Chinese career platform Maimai showed that newly posted AI-related jobs surged about 12-fold year-on-year in the January-February period of 2026. Recruitment data also showed that top-paying positions, including AI scientists, product architects, and algorithm researchers, offer average monthly salaries exceeding 70,000 yuan.

Huang Xiaofei, co-founder of Shanghai Volant Aerotech Co., Ltd., an electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft manufacturer, said professionals who can handle complex systems engineering while bridging technical expertise with business strategy remain in short supply.

Industry insiders said that over the next five years, the impact of major projects will move beyond output value, with greater emphasis placed on cultivating high-end talent. Such professionals, with a solid grounding in basic science, strong engineering capabilities, and a keen understanding of market needs, will help bridge laboratories, enterprises and markets.

CROSS-SECTOR JOBS ON THE RISE

A key feature of the major projects is the deep integration of emerging technologies with traditional industries, giving rise to a wide range of cross-sector job opportunities in areas such as intelligent manufacturing, smart agriculture and healthcare.

In agriculture, one of the oldest industries, technologies such as AI, remote sensing, and big data are reshaping production across vast stretches of farmland.

From the field to the table, smart agriculture is creating new roles across the entire value chain. Unmanned harvesters rely on navigation specialists, crop-spraying drones are operated by trained pilots, and sensors monitoring crop growth require maintenance by Internet of Things engineers.

After harvest, cold-chain logistics analysts calculate optimal routes from farm to market, while quality-tracing engineers assign "digital passports" to rice and other products. On the sales side, rural e-commerce operators and agricultural brand planners help local specialties fetch better prices.

This trend is also evident in urban industries. Humanoid robots have appeared on major stages and exhibitions as greeters and hosts, driving rapid growth in related sectors such as robot sales, leasing, deployment and maintenance.

"Robot leasing is not just about renting out machines, but about putting them into real-world use," said Li Yiyan, CEO of a robot leasing platform in Shanghai. "This has created new roles such as on-site deployment engineers and operations coordinators managing equipment from different brands."

Wang Hao, an expert with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that as manufacturing and services continue to integrate, demand is rising not only for research and production posts, but also for positions in operations, services and supporting functions, which increasingly require professionals with solid technical expertise as well as strong operational and service capabilities.

Experts said those able to work across fields and turn skills into real-world solutions are expected to become the fastest-growing segment of the workforce, a trend that will be a key focus of higher education and vocational training reform.