48th WorldSkills Competition Opens in Shanghai With 1,385 Competitors

The scale of participation — 68 countries and regions across 64 skill categories — signals that vocational and technical training remains a live policy priority for host China, which is fielding a full slate of competitors in every category. For global labor markets, the competition's sector spread, from manufacturing to information and communication technology, offers a periodic benchmark of where national training systems are concentrating effort. Whether the event's outcomes translate into broader recognition of skilled trades in an economy long focused on academic credentials is the open question.