Ministry of Human Resources Releases AI New Occupation Directory: 47 New Positions Created, Prompt Engineer Formally Classified in National Occupation System

On April 2, China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security officially published the 2028 revision of the National Occupation Classification Dictionary, adding 47 AI-related occupations. The most notable addition is "prompt engineer," formally incorporated into the national occupation classification system with occupation code 2-02-10-19, classified under "engineering and technical personnel." Other new occupations include AI ethics auditor, digital twin architect, human-machine collaboration process designer, AI training data annotator, and model security assessment specialist.

The Ministry's Department of Vocational Capacity Building stated this revision was based on surveys of 2,000 AI-related enterprises nationwide, reflecting genuine employment demands arising from AI technology's penetration across industries. Of the 47 new occupations, approximately 60% are "human-machine collaboration" positions — jobs requiring humans to work alongside AI systems, rather than positions where AI purely replaces humans.

Simultaneously, the Ministry released a supporting "AI Skill Level Certification System" with three tiers: basic, intermediate, and advanced. Job seekers holding intermediate or above certification will receive priority consideration in recruitment. The certification system was jointly developed by the Ministry with Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent, with the first certification examinations scheduled for August 2028.