Baby boom should spur need for nurses

It is a tradition among new Chinese mothers to hire a confinement nurse after giving birth to a child. And the new family-planning policy is expected to boost the job market for such nurses.

Cui Jingwen, general manager of Baby Care & Education Co Ltd, a Beijing-based maternity agency, plans to expand her chain stores to provincial cities across the country within five years. Currently, 80 percent of the company's business is in Beijing.

The company had planned to boost hiring of confinement nurses by 30 percent this year before the State Family Planning Commission announced the new family planning policy. But now, she said, "our expansion plan now will hire 50 percent more confinement nurses".