Li: Youths' skills drive economy

Premier hosts national team that took the top spot at global meet

China's young, skilled generation carries with it the huge responsibility of shouldering the country's economic transition, which lies in fully implementing an innovation-driven development strategy and further boosting mass entrepreneurship, Premier Li Keqiang said.

Li spoke at the Zhongnanhai compound in Beijing on Tuesday afternoon, where he met the Chinese delegation to the 44th WorldSkills Competition, held in October in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and learned about their experiences. The global competition helps youths develop their abilities in many areas.

Skilled workers are expected to make great contributions to China's efforts in building a modern socialist country, Li said, and he called for further improvements in existing policies to enhance training of skilled workers.

"In the past, we've been relying on growth and demographic dividends, and now we need to nurture and rely on the talent dividend," Li said.

The current situation, in which skilled workers receive lower salaries and have limited career choices, must be changed, he said.

This year's Chinese delegation of 52 competitors, ranging from 18 to 21 years old, led the gold medal count at the 44th WorldSkills Competition, which closed on Oct 19. They participated in 47 disciplines and won 15 gold medals, seven silver medals and eight bronze medals, marking the best performance by a Chinese delegation in the competition since it joined WorldSkills in 2010. This is the fourth time China has participated in the competition.

"The essence of quality lies in the spirit of craftsmanship," Li told the delegation. He called their achievement a great encouragement for the development of China's manufacturing in the international arena.

To drive China's economy to a medium to high level, it is important to improve workers' skills, he said.

Several competitors who won gold medals－in disciplines including car painting, bricklaying and mechanical troubleshooting－told Li about their experiences.

"We feel we are strongly backed by the country's policy in recent years of encouraging the training of skilled workers and innovation, especially since more teachers have been hired at our college and learning facilities have been improving," said Song Biao, 19, from Changzhou Technician College in Jiangsu province.