China’s tech boom powering AI career coup, with finance muscled out at top of salary pyramid

China’s diversion of resources into science and tech has had downstream effects on salaries, with AI jobs leapfrogging finance as top earners

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AI applications across industries have driven demand for new hires, with China’s AI sector reporting the highest monthly salaries in a new survey. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:00pm, 7 Jul 2024

China’s rapidly expanding artificial intelligence (AI) sector has nudged aside finance to top the country’s salary rankings for the second quarter of 2024, as Beijing’s push for self-sufficiency in tech and the rush to capitalise on the industry’s global popularity are helping firms in the field outpace the banks, funds and brokerages that have tended to offer the highest-paying jobs.

Propelled by an explosion of demand as businesses race to develop and trial AI applications, jobs in this sector saw an average monthly pay growth of 5.3 per cent to 13,594 yuan (US$1,868) during the quarter compared to the year prior, according to online recruitment platform Zhilian Zhaopin. Meanwhile, investment as a whole – which includes funds, securities and futures positions – slipped to second place after taking the top spot in the first quarter of the year and many previous periods.

The changing fortunes of AI and financial jobs reflect a shift in national priorities as well as the job market. While employees in China’s vast financial sector have been hit by widespread pay cuts and even retractions of bonuses, tech is quickly becoming a new darling among jobseekers.

Beijing has diverted ample resources to boost its tech capacity – including funnelling capital from the financial sector – as the world’s second-largest economy attempts to upgrade manufacturing while striving to bypass numerous barriers to tech and trade development laid down by the West.

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This has translated into higher pay for related industries.