Favoring Skilled Talents, From Talent Competition to Population Competition: Multiple Regions in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta Relax Settlement of Education and Skills | Talents | Yangtze River Delta
The 5-year long "competition for talent" is changing its mindset, no longer limited to the competition for top talents, but gradually evolving into a "population competition".
It is foreseeable that more cities will accelerate the relaxation of household registration in the future. On August 3rd, the Ministry of Public Security held a press conference emphasizing the comprehensive relaxation of household registration conditions in large cities and the improvement of point based household registration policies in mega cities, and proposed the pilot implementation of flexible household registration policies.
Red Star Capital Bureau has found that since the beginning of this year, the relaxed household registration policies in many areas of the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta have downplayed academic qualifications and favored "skilled talents". For example, in May, Hangzhou and Nanjing respectively lowered the threshold for household registration to junior colleges; The latest relevant plan issued by Zhejiang Province emphasizes "strengthening the cultivation of practical professional skilled talents"; In July, Zhuhai and Dongguan both issued documents related to the introduction of skilled talents for household registration.
Experts have told the Red Star Capital Bureau that the supply and demand gap for technical workers at all levels necessary for achieving sustainable regional economic development in various regions is already very obvious. At this moment, the continuous increase in support for human resources is aimed at addressing the current shortage of local talent markets. What truly changes the regional human resources strategy of various regions in China is not the top talent team, but the middle and bottom regions of the human resources pyramid.
As the two most developed regions in China's economy, the competition for manufacturing talent is expected to take the lead in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta.
Zhejiang grabbing the People's Congress action
Fully relax household registration restrictions
In recent times, the new household registration policy that has attracted much attention nationwide is undoubtedly the comprehensive relaxation of household registration restrictions issued by Zhejiang Province.
In July, the General Office of the Zhejiang Provincial Government released the "Implementation Plan for Promoting the Implementation of the Basic Public Service System in Permanent Residences and Orderly Promoting the Citizenization of Agricultural Transfer Population in Zhejiang Province" - the province will comprehensively lift the policy of household registration restrictions, ensure that the standards for rural and local agricultural transfer population entering cities are unified, and pilot the household registration system based on their permanent residence.
For the mega city of Hangzhou, the point based household registration policy will continue, but further adjustments will be made to the proportion of points for social security payment years and continuous residence years, as well as the gradual lifting of restrictions on annual household registration quotas.
A bigger killer is that Zhejiang proposes to implement the cumulative mutual recognition of registered residence access years.
As soon as the signal "Zhejiang household registration is easier to obtain" came out, Xiaojiang, who is engaged in related work in Zhejiang, became busy. "We are also waiting for the new policy to be announced, and it can only be said that the ease of household registration is definitely a big trend." Xiaojiang told the Red Star Capital Bureau that the main beneficiaries of this new policy are those who have lived here for many years and do not have an advantage in education. "Previously, the biggest concern for migrant workers working in Zhejiang was the difficulty of settling down and making it difficult for their children to learn. However, now anyone who has worked in Zhejiang for a long time has the opportunity to settle down."
The significance of this matter lies not only in promoting the influx of agricultural population into cities. Zeng Gang, Dean of the Urban Development Research Institute of East China Normal University, analyzed that the "Zhejiang Plan" is aimed at further improving the equalization of basic public services within Zhejiang Province; For the migrant population outside the province, the idea of "grabbing talent" is hidden, especially in the hope of aggregating skilled talents and promoting local industrial transformation and upgrading. "The main purpose of immigrants from outside the province is to compete for talent and encourage college graduates and local migrant workers who have already been employed to move in. This does not mean that agricultural migrants from other regions can flood into Zhejiang Province in large numbers."
However, specific progress still needs time. Taking Ningbo as an example, after consulting with the Red Star Capital Bureau, it was found that the current population migration policy in Ningbo is still the document released last year. Local government officials have stated that they have not yet received updated documents regarding the relaxation of household registration.
During the interview, Red Star Capital Bureau found that the migrant workers with children in Zhejiang still paid the highest attention to the Zhejiang plan. "The relaxation of household registration is of great use, as migrant workers no longer need to buy houses to settle down and let their children study. Especially for migrant workers in Ningbo, Wenzhou, and Yiwu, they have saved millions in an instant, and as long as they have a household registration, they can study in the public sector. Many counties in Zhejiang require teachers to graduate from Double First Class universities, and there is no need to mention the number of teachers."
In recent years, the industrial iteration in Zhejiang has also given rise to a large demand for senior technicians. While relaxing the threshold for household registration, Zhejiang emphasizes "professional skills", which is also seen by the outside world as a talent reserve for the upgrading of the manufacturing industry.
Red Star Capital Bureau has noticed that the "Zhejiang Plan" has repeatedly mentioned content related to "vocational skills", such as deepening the promotion of "gold and blue collar" vocational skills improvement actions and strengthening the cultivation of practical professional skilled talents. Support eligible agricultural transfer population to participate in vocational qualification evaluation, vocational skill level recognition, and other skilled talent evaluation.
And it is proposed that the number of vocational skills training personnel should reach 1 million per year in 2027, which is a five fold increase compared to 2022.
Gradually relaxed educational threshold
Replaced by skill requirements
When other places are still competing for highly educated talents, the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta have already begun to target skilled talents.
Coincidentally, Guangzhou has also introduced relevant policies to attract talents this month. Unlike the scale of opening up in Zhejiang Province, Guangzhou's current round of household registration directly targets the "young power".
On July 21st, the official website of the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security issued a notice soliciting opinions on the "Management Measures for Differentiated Household Movements in Guangzhou and Outside the City". Identify the seven administrative regions within the scope of implementing differentiated household registration policies that meet the three conditions of being under 28 years old, having a college degree, and continuously paying social security for at least 12 months. There are seven peripheral urban areas including Zengcheng, Conghua, Huadu, Nansha, Huangpu, Baiyun, and Panyu. The peripheral urban areas carry numerous traditional and high-tech manufacturing industries in Guangzhou, among which Huangpu and Zengcheng are the gathering areas for high-end manufacturing during the 14th Five Year Plan period in Guangzhou.
This means that Guangzhou plans to increase differentiated household entry channels, aiming to attract more young and high-quality craftsmen to work and live in the suburbs of the new district.
The relevant person in charge of the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security stated that the new policy is positioned as "precise talent attraction". Guangzhou will relax the household registration policy for full-time college graduates under the age of 28, which will help Guangzhou retain a large number of skilled young talents needed in the manufacturing industry.
In the past two years, Guangzhou has gradually relaxed the threshold for household registration, and the previous regulation of "full-time undergraduate students paying social security for six months in a row" has been changed to "those who have insurance records in Guangzhou can register.". But there are also external voices that believe that the degree of relaxation in Guangzhou this time is not significant.
The owner of a precision parts company in Zengcheng District, Guangzhou, told Red Star Capital Bureau that the majority of workers in his factory are young people with low educational backgrounds, making it difficult for such young people to settle in Guangzhou. For most factories, the problem of difficult recruitment and retention in the manufacturing industry still exists. For small factories like him, if policies are not relaxed enough, they still cannot enjoy the talent dividends brought about by policy changes.
According to the seventh national census data, Guangdong and Zhejiang have the largest population of other provinces in the country, with 29.6221 million and 16.1765 million respectively. According to the population characteristics analysis released by the statistics bureaus of Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces, the total proportion of migrant population with junior high school and below in Guangdong is nearly 70%, while in Zhejiang, this data is nearly 80%. These people may have worked in Guangdong and Zhejiang for many years and have the most urgent need for household registration.
The educational threshold is gradually being broken in the household registration policy. Last year, Zhejiang province fully lifted restrictions on the registration of graduates with associate degrees or above. In May of this year, graduates with associate degrees from ordinary universities under the age of 35 who have already established employment units in the urban area of Hangzhou can apply for registration in the city.
In 2021, 18 departments including Zhejiang Provincial Department of Human Resources and Social Security will implement the "golden blue collar" vocational skill improvement action, focus on key areas such as digital economy, advanced manufacturing, livelihood services, modern agriculture, etc., focus on key groups such as intelligent manufacturing industry workers, livelihood services practitioners, rural revitalization practical talents, entrepreneurship and employment in Zhejiang Province, and focus on new jobs and new posts emerging in the construction and development of three scientific innovation highlands of "Internet plus", life health, and new materials, and carry out targeted vocational skills training on a large scale. This year's Zhejiang Plan also mentioned the content of "gold and blue collar".
"From the data we have tracked for many years, it can be seen that talents in industries such as next-generation AGI, large models, new process chips, next-generation quantum communication, Internet of Things, and new energy are not only scarce in various parts of China, but also extremely scarce globally, making them a key area for strategic reserve talents that countries are competing for. However, these are the top of the human resources pyramid and not yet sufficient to form a regional human resources strategy. Therefore, what truly changes the regional human resources strategy in various parts of China is not the top talent team, but the middle and bottom regions of the human resources pyramid," independent international strategy researcher Chen Jia told Red Star Capital Bureau.
He believes that recent policy measures such as improving human resources policies in many regions, relaxing educational restrictions, and optimizing the settlement of skilled talents are essentially important innovations in local human resources policies. This is driven by both local proactive strategic development transformation and industrial and supply chain transformation, as well as pressure from regional population mobility and labor structure optimization.
The labor shortage is still difficult to alleviate
Embark on the defense of the manufacturing industry
The precise implementation of policies for skilled talents also indicates that in manufacturing provinces and strong cities, the phenomenon of labor shortage is still difficult to alleviate.
Taking Guangzhou as an example, data released by the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Statistics shows that the permanent population of Guangzhou in 2022 was 18.7341 million, which is more than 2 million away from its target value of 21 million in 2025. Guangzhou also experienced negative population growth for the first time in 20 years.
Against the backdrop of population loss, the shortage of personnel in the manufacturing industry has become more apparent. Recently, the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security released a ranking of the top 30 professions in the second quarter of 2023 with a higher demand than job seekers. The data shows that marketers, cleaners, and other manufacturing and related personnel are among the top three in terms of job vacancies. Among other manufacturing and related personnel, technical workers are particularly in short supply.
According to the "Guidelines for the Development of Manufacturing Talents" released by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the talent gap in China's top 10 key areas of manufacturing will be close to 30 million by 2025, with a gap rate of up to 48%. Skilled talents are in short supply.
To cope with the shortage of skilled talents, multiple cities have lowered the threshold for household registration to a vocational degree or cancelled it. Red Star Capital Bureau has found that since the beginning of this year, many regions have relaxed the conditions for college students to settle down, especially in representative cities in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta.
In the Yangtze River Delta, in May, in addition to Hangzhou relaxing the direct household registration threshold to junior colleges, at the end of May, the website of the Nanjing Public Security Bureau released a public announcement soliciting opinions on the "Implementation Measures for the Settlement of Talents in Nanjing". The new talent policy released by Nanjing this time allows college graduates under the age of 40 who have continuously paid for more than 6 months to settle down. On the basis of this, the conditions for those under the age of 35 have been relaxed again, and the time limit for social security payment has been lifted. As long as social security is paid, they can settle down.
In another important town in the Yangtze River Delta, Suzhou, the "strongest prefecture level city", the standard for household registration has been updated this year, with a minimum score of 400 points, which is the lowest in history, nearly half of the lowest score of 795 points in 2018.
In the Pearl River Delta, at the end of July, the "Implementation Plan for the Cultivation of" New Industrial Craftsmen "in Zhuhai City" mentioned that the conditions for skilled talents to enter households will be further relaxed. Graduates of vocational colleges or those holding junior or above skill level certificates can apply for talent introduction.
In the "Trial Measures for the Implementation of Excellent Industrial Workers Entering Households in Dongguan City" released on July 26th, the educational threshold was directly lifted. The policy for excellent industrial workers entering households mainly targets the technical level, research and development level, tax amount, economic contribution, and special contribution of the applicant's enterprise, with relatively low requirements for the applicant's social security years, residence permit years, and age.
Chen Jia believes that the average age of the older generation of middle and senior skilled workers is increasing, and the phenomenon of youth and yellow unemployment is becoming increasingly prominent. The supply and demand gap for technical workers at all levels necessary for achieving sustainable regional economic development in various regions is already very obvious. At this moment, the continuous increase in support for human resources is aimed at addressing the current shortage of local talent markets.
An Guangyong, an expert from the Credit Management Committee of the All China Mergers and Acquisitions Association, told Red Star Capital that in the long run, relaxing educational requirements may become a trend, but this may also be affected by the economic situation and talent demand.
Skilled talents play an important role in local economic development. More practical skilled talents are currently needed to meet the practical operational needs of the production and service industries, promoting the recovery, development, and upgrading of enterprises.
"The competition for skilled talents in the future may take the lead in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions, which are the most developed regions in China's economy and have a more urgent demand for skilled talents." An Guangyong believes that in the future, various regions may increase their efforts to cultivate and attract skilled talents, forming a fierce competition pattern for talents.
