China’s AI Jobs Boom While Top Graduates Take Fallback Roles
By Zhang Can and Tang Hanyu
Demand for artificial intelligence talent boomed in China in the third quarter of 2025, with some positions offering salaries well above 20,000 yuan ($2,760) a month, even as a growing number of highly educated graduates flock to low-skilled sales and service jobs.
This divergence reveals a growing paradox in China’s job market amid slowing economic growth, according to recent reports from recruitment platforms including Liepin.com, Zhaopin Ltd. and 58.com Inc. While Beijing’s push for an industrial upgrade is creating high-paying tech roles, a flood of job seekers is competing for positions where applicant growth far outstrips demand, signaling what some observers call an “employment downgrade.”
In the third quarter, new job postings in the artificial intelligence sector surged 54.84% year-on-year, leading all other industries, data from a Liepin report showed, though it did not disclose the base figure for the calculation. Demand for embodied intelligence roles, which combine software and hardware, grew even faster at 72.86%.
This has created a talent war that has expanded from internet and AI firms to traditional manufacturers seeking intelligent upgrades, Liepin’s report noted. However, the supply of talent appears to be growing even faster than demand. In the first three quarters, the number of job seekers in the AI sector jumped 39% year-on-year, while job postings grew just 3%, according to a Zhaopin report.
Tech jobs lead growth
Driven by industrial upgrading, positions in emerging tech fields are offering competitive compensation. The average advertised annual salary for embodied intelligence jobs reached 333,400 yuan, higher than the 290,900 yuan for AI jobs, the Liepin report showed. These roles are concentrated in major hubs like Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing.
AI engineers focusing on algorithms can command an average monthly salary of 21,439 yuan, according to Zhaopin. As the technology matures, demand is also growing for related roles like AI product managers and data labelers, with industries from telecommunications and pharmaceuticals to education seeking such talent.
Liepin’s report also showed that electronics, semiconductors, and integrated circuits, along with the internet and e-commerce, were the most active sectors for hiring new graduates this fall.
Service sector absorbs workers
Despite the tech boom, the high-skilled nature of these jobs means they absorb a relatively small portion of the workforce. The broader service industry remains the main engine of employment, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and recruitment platforms.
Spurred by a recovery in consumer spending, demand for roles in traditional services climbed. In Beijing, demand for back-of-house kitchen staff, food preparers and waiters rose by more than 20% quarter-on-quarter, 58.com data showed. However, these low-barrier jobs are attracting a deluge of applicants. In the capital, resume submissions for top service roles surged 72.8% from the previous quarter, far outpacing demand growth.
Modern service sectors are also expanding. Job postings in pet services grew 43.7% year-on-year in the third quarter, with demand for veterinarians and pet groomers up 128.2% and 67.3% respectively, Zhaopin reported. The elderly-care industry saw job postings increase by 29.2%.
The booming short-form drama industry boosted talent demand by 26% year-on-year in the first three quarters, with editors and screenwriters being the most sought-after. Zhengzhou, which aims to become a “capital of mini-dramas,” led all cities in hiring for these roles.
Graduates turn to “fallback” jobs
Signaling a shift in attitudes or a response to employment pressure, some of China’s top graduates are increasingly applying for sales and customer service positions, roles often seen as a “fallback option.”
In the third quarter, the number of recent graduates applying for such roles jumped by over 25% year-on-year, according to Liepin. The increase was particularly sharp among those with higher degrees and from elite institutions.
Applicants with master’s or doctoral degrees rose 38.4% year-on-year, while candidates from China’s prestigious 985 and 211 universities increased by 29%.
The report suggests that graduates may see these positions not only as a quick path to employment but also as an opportunity to build transferable skills. It noted that digitalization is creating new career paths like technical sales and user-experience operations, causing the growth potential of these roles to be re-evaluated.
The trend comes as China’s youth unemployment remains a concern. The jobless rate for those aged 16 to 24, excluding students, stood at 17.7% in September, down from a peak of 18.9% in August, according to the NBS.
caixinglobal.com is the English-language online news portal of Chinese financial and business news media group Caixin. Global Neighbours is authorized to reprint this article.
Image: Dee karen – stock.adobe.com