WeChat Ecosystem Generated 29.63 Million Jobs in 2019

WeChat and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) jointly published the 2019-2020 WeChat Employment Impact Report on May 14. According to the report, WeChat generated 29.63 million jobs in 2019, including 26.01 million direct employment opportunities.

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According to Tencent’s 2020 Q1 Financial Report, WeChat’s monthly active users have risen to a new high of 1.2 billion. WeChat also managed to expand the ecosystem built around the app. Now, WeChat boasts more than 20 million official accounts, more than 1 billion daily WeChat Pay transactions, and more than 1 million mini programs launched. WeChat’s office collaboration tool Work WeChat has also made significant progress with 2.5 million registered companies and more than 60 million active users.

The WeChat ecosystem has generated job types that didn’t exist before, including mini program developers and WeChat service providers. Compared to the same period last year, WeChat Ecosystem related jobs have increased by 156.56%. During the COVID-19 pandemic, new media related jobs remain in high demand, with 54.61%, 43.53%, and 11.94% month-on-month growth in February, March and April 2020, respectively. New Media Operations, Social Community Management and Mini Games Development Engineer are the top 3 most needed positions related to WeChat.

Over the years, the WeChat ecosystem has attracted a wide group of entrepreneurs and cultivated a digital lifestyle transition. Young people and college graduates make up more than half of the WeChat related jobs employees. While Beijing, Shanghai and Guangdong remain top locations for WeChat related jobs, WeChat has also accelerated the digital jobs growth in third-tier and fourth-tier cities.

As the COVID-19 pandemic swept across China, WeChat powered business solutions and public health measures experienced rapid growth. According to the report, more than half of the ecosystem members believed that remote work has little impact on work efficiency. As of the end of 2019, municipal service mini programs experienced a 600% year-on-year growth and had accumulated 5.4 billion total visits, making government service the fastest growing industry on WeChat Pay at a 190% growth rate, followed by healthcare and education. Popular public health services including “Tencent Health Code”, “State Council Mini Program” and “Wuhan WeNeighborhood” have played a crucial role in containing COVID-19.