Post-1980 generation gets skills upgrade

With the generation of migrant workers born after 1980 representing a major segment of many communities, the government is making efforts to shape them into a more skilled workforce, a recent report from the National Bureau of Statistics said.

The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security is now pursuing a skills-improvement plan it issued in early January. The plan focuses on the post-1980 generation who are employed in nonagricultural industries.

The government is allocating more resources to improve their vocational skills to help them earn better wages.

E-commerce courses, for example, will be offered to young workers, and migrants from poor families will be given priority in vocational skills training, the ministry said.

The post-1980 generation represented 51.5 percent of the 288.3 million migrant workers last year, up 1 percentage point over 2017.

Feng Xiliang, dean of the School of Labor Economics at Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing, said members of this group － unlike the older generation aged over 50, which is tightly bound to rural areas － were often raised in urban areas after their parents moved to cities.

"Though their hukou remain in rural areas, their minds and behavior are more like urban dwellers," he said. "Thus, more opportunity for education and recruitment should be given to the new blood."