The Chinese government has issued its latest roster of jobs entitled to official state recognition. In are career consultants, jewelry evaluators, coffee baristas, sports agents and digital video mixers. The Ministry of Labour and Social Security did not release the job categories stricken from its list. In recent years, though, it has delisted wok repairmen and food rationing coupon managers. "Night soil collectors" who cleaned public toilets by hand have been replaced by trucks that suck waste out through hoses.
The roster reflects China's rapid transformation from a rural economy to a manufacturing dynamo. Says Liu Yongpeng, a job evaluator at the Labour Ministry. "When I graduated in 1982, it was simple. There were workers in the cities and peasants in the countryside. It's all changed now."
In 2006, services accounted for 41 per cent of China's economic output. Far behind the global average of 68 per cent -- but way up from 31 per cent a decade ago.
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