WeChat active in job creation in 2019: report

BEIJING - WeChat, China's popular multi-functional social media platform, created about 29.63 million job opportunities in 2019, report data showed.

A total of 26.01 million jobs were directly created by the platform, up 16 percent year on year, according to the report jointly released by WeChat and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

With its multi-functions including messaging, social media and payment, the platform incorporates various products including WeChat Official Account, mini-programs and WeChat Pay, creating jobs concerning technology development, product operation, digital content and management control.

It also benefits job-seekers with flexible modes, multiple channels and relatively low threshold of employment, offering a variety of job options in promoting employment, said the report.

The report also highlighted the contribution of mini-programs in job creation, with daily active accounts of small programs exceeding 400 million last year, which directly created 5.36 million job opportunities, surging 195 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, some 11.1 percent of mini-program developers and 14.5 percent of WeChat service providers released new jobs to meet the demand spurt of online business amid the COVID-19 epidemic, creating 597,000 jobs, it said.

Young people and college graduates are among the main group who are employed through WeChat. The report showed that over half of the employees of 55.8 percent of entities on the platform aged 16 and 29, while more than half of the staff from 55 percent entities graduated from college.