A recruiter explains job responsibilities to applicants at a recruitment fair in Shenyang, Northeast China's Liaoning Province, on February 28, 2024. The fair has gathered more than 2,000 enterprises, offering nearly 40,000 jobs. In order to boost employment, job fairs are being held nationwide. Photo: VCG

China's job market has been boosted by a robust rebound in services consumption as well as the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in the first quarter, industry reports showed.

Services and consumption, new-energy products and high-end manufacturing have become crucial components of growth and provide essential support to China's job market, read a report that Chinese job-hunting platform Zhilian Zhaopin sent to the Global Times on Monday.

Employment growth in services-related industries hit double-digit levels, it said. 

The AI industry is also creating many well-paid jobs, the report said.

Experts said this positive trend reflects a significant improvement in the recovery of the Chinese economy.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, services sales rose 12.3 percent year-on-year in the first two months, and retail sales totaled 8.13 trillion yuan ($1.13 trillion), up 5.5 percent year-on-year.
 
With favorable policies and the continuous increase in employment demand in various industries, especially the services industry, China's job market is seeing a strong rebound after the COVID-19 pandemic, Li Chang'an, a professor at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies of the University of International Business and Economics, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Another highlight of the job market was in the AI-related sector. This emerging industry, touted as one of the new quality productive forces, has been driving China's economy since last year and created numerous jobs, experts noted.

According to an employment report by Liepin on Monday, 2023 was the year of AI, with OpenAI leading the way with its ground-breaking chatbot ChatGPT and text-to-video AI generator Sora. 

Key players in China such as the one-year-old Beijing-based Moonshot AI and two-year-old Shanghai-based MiniMax are leading the way for innovating ChatGPT-like products. 

An employee of Moonshot AI told the Global Times on Tuesday that the company had only 30-40 members on its team when it was established in March 2023. Within a year, the team had grown to more than 100 people. "We are considering to recruit more talent in the near future," he said.

The AI generated content-related job market has grown quickly. In the first quarter, positions were up by 321.7 percent year-on-year, reflecting a sharp rebound in employment, according to Liepin's report. 

Applicants surged by 946.84 percent, and the average annual salary stood at 408,700 yuan.

Experts said that as Chinese unicorns continue to shine in sectors including AI, new energy and biotechnology, injecting new dynamism into the development of China's economy, the job market will get a boost with diverse development possibilities.