China’s EV and chip giants need workers, not necessarily college grads

BEIJING — China’s vocational school push is producing workers the country’s electric car and semiconductor industries want to hire.

Despite tech company layoffs and record-high youth unemployment in recent years, public filings analyzed by CNBC show marked headcount growth at key industry giants – who largely depend on technical, advanced manufacturing labor.

Electric battery heavyweight CATL‘s staff more than tripled within three years to 118,914 in 2022 – with nearly 80% holding less than a bachelor’s degree.

Chinese semiconductor company SMIC‘s research and development team grew by nearly 30% since 2021 to 2,283 as of June. While doctorate and master’s degree holders contributed the most to the increase, the number of staff with a junior college or lower background rose by 10% — in contrast to an 8% drop for those with bachelor’s degrees.

China’s efforts to build up its own technological capabilities have intensified since the U.S. started to restrict Chinese companies’ access to critical tech such as advanced semiconductors.

The Chinese government has also long tried to develop its vocational education system and learn from similar programs in countries such as Germany.

Beijing made two important changes in 2019 to spur vocational education – a nationally recognized skills certification framework and a call for 300 business entities to provide or sponsor training, pointed out Anyi Wang, associate research scholar at Columbia University and co-author of a 2020 paper on vocational education in…