Through training, exchanges and apprenticeships, the city aimed to promote the overall quality of technical workers by 2005, when senior workers were expected to make up 15 percent of all workers in Shanghai, said Vice-Mayor Jiang Yiren Thursday.

As part of the plan, Shanghai has set up a technical training service center to design and carry out advanced training programs for blue-collar workers and establish links between senior workers and businesses.

Shanghai's job market has reported a serious shortage of technical workers, particularly those who are well-educated and experienced, who account only for 6.2 percent of all workers but have played a leading role in the city's manufacturing and service industries.

A survey conducted in Shanghai earlier this year showed that experienced technicians in the communications, electronics and auto-making industries and other high and new technology sectors were earning high incomes at about 100,000 yuan (US$12,048)a year, an enviable amount even for many business executives.

Even technicians in some traditional industries -- skilled locksmiths, pattern-makers and oil refinery workers -- could make 70,000 to 80,000 yuan (US$8,434 to 9,638) a year, according to the survey.

Experts predict further rises in blue-collar incomes, social status and overall quality with sustained technological advancement, better working conditions and new concepts in business administration.

(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2002)