The move is aimed at helping the number of technology wizards grow substantially and will then hopefully account for 20 percent of local technical workers in the sector by the end of 2005, compared with the current 9 percent, officials said.

Meanwhile, it is expected that youngsters will by then become the "backbone force" of the team of senior technical workers, a considerable part of which is dominated by staff aged above 45, according to Ji Yumin, director of personnel education and training division of the city's economic commission, overseer of local economic activities.

"We need to nurture talent at all levels, not merely white-collars, to better bolster our social and economic development," said Ji.

A major part of the government-initiated policy package is to optimize the educational resources of existing local polytechnic colleges and technical schools -- a traditional cradle of local workmen -- in order to attract the inflow of more outstanding junior middle school graduates.

Meanwhile, incentives or bonus schemes will be established among local industrial enterprises, not only to raise the pay of senior technical staff but to also set up special subsidies to keep talent from moving to higher paid jobs, Ji said.

Local enterprises are expected to map out their respective plans in terms of nurturing adequate technical staff for some key positions and excellent workers will be sent abroad for further training, she said.

The launch of the package seems to come at the right time for Shanghai, billed as a key industrial base in China, insiders said.

"We have begun to feel the want for veteran technical workers, and that is especially true for small-sized industrial enterprises," noted Jiang Weisong, senior official of Shanghai Electric (Group) Corp.

Still struggling to get out of their economic straits, many such enterprises are reluctant and unable to pour money into the further training of their technical workers, who are also unable to upgrade their knowledge and technical know-how because of lack of funds.

The situation has been worsened by the prevailing social view that workers are inferior to white-collars, in terms of pay and working conditions.

Such a view has gone so far as to concern parents who are advising their children to stay away from such an occupation when picking college courses -- leading to the closure of a number of secondary technical schools because of a lack of candidates, Jiang said.

"A key point in that regard is the correct public attitude towards those workers, and that requires much more efforts from involved parties like the media," said Sun Zhenhua, a senior industry observer.

Meanwhile, a transparent legal framework should be set up immediately to provide guidelines for fostering more senior technical staff, he added.

(China Daily July 8, 2002)