Ningbo home to 710,000 high-skilled workers

Skilled workers are pictured in a workshop in Ningbo, East China's Zhejiang province. [Photo/cnnb.com.cn]

Ningbo in East China's Zhejiang province was home to a staggering 710,000 high-skilled workers as of the end of May, according to official statistics from the Ningbo Municipal Bureau of Human Resources and Social Security.

A qualification at the senior worker level or above is held by one in every three skilled workers in the city.

In July 2016, Ningbo issued the first local regulation in China aimed at promoting training in vocational skills. Since then, authorities have introduced a raft of preferential policies designed to attract highly skilled workers to the city, including a subsidy of 30,000 yuan ($4,221.43) for senior skilled workers to set up a home in Ningbo. Workers in especially in-demand jobs will receive an additional subsidy of 36,000 yuan.

Presently, Ningbo has 130 workshops at the municipal level or above, established by masterful and highly skilled workers. The workshops have obtained 2,003 patents and enabled enterprises to solve 7,497 technical issues, leading to a cumulative economic benefit of over 6.5 billion yuan, according to official data.