China Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security

China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) is the central government body responsible for labour relations, employment policy, vocational training, wages, and the national social insurance system. It sets the official occupational classification framework that governs hiring, training subsidies, and wage benchmarks across China's 1.4 billion population. In April 2026, the ministry recognised 42 new AI-related occupations, each projected to require 300,000 to 500,000 workers, as part of a dedicated AI employment policy targeting 12.7 million university graduates entering the labour market this year.

The move is a deliberate counter-narrative to the Western framing of AI as a destroyer of employment. China's latest five-year plan positions AI as a net job creator intended to offset approximately 300 million retirements over the coming decade. Human Resources Minister Wang Xiaoping stated the government is 'actively leveraging AI' to absorb graduate employment pressure during a period of historically high youth unemployment and GDP growth targeted at 4.5 to 5%, the lowest since the 1990s.

MOHRSS acts as both regulator and propagandist in China's AI labour market strategy. Chinese labour economist Cai Fang has publicly warned that AI job destruction often precedes job creation and that 'high penetration and automation trends may lead to long-term employment shocks,' an unusually candid internal dissent. The ministry's new occupational categories contrast sharply with the EU's approach, which delayed its AI workplace rules by 16 months in March 2026, and with US inaction on tracking AI displacement data.