BEIJING, April 6 (Xinhua) -- Gu Yue, 29, serves as a maternity matron at an internet-based maternity and childcare company in Chengdu in southwest China's Sichuan Province. Even after parting ways with families after rendering her services, she continues to receive heartwarming photos of the babies she once cared for, capturing precious milestones such as their first crawl, first steps, first birthday, and even their journey into kindergarten.
"Seeing these adorable newborns, who I once tended to, grow stronger gives me a great sense of accomplishment," Gu said.
Maternity matrons, also known as "yuesao" in Chinese, provide postpartum care to mothers and newborns during the first month or longer after childbirth.
With a nursing background, Gu has previously worked as a nurse in hospitals and postpartum care centers. Following the birth of her own daughter, she had also worked in an early education center for a period.
"Mother and infant care requires a high level of expertise as it involves postpartum recovery for mothers, breastfeeding guidance, care and massage for the newborns, early education and many other aspects," Gu explained.
More professional skills correspond to higher incomes, she said, adding that senior professional maternity matrons can currently earn an annual income of over 100,000 yuan (about 14,095 U.S. dollars).
As the number of newborns in the Year of the Dragon increases in China, there is a growing demand for maternity matrons and nannies.
"If you don't book a few months in advance, it becomes difficult to find a suitable maternity matron close to the due date," says a resident from Beijing surnamed Liu, who is expecting her baby in August this year. Following her friend's advice, she has started interviewing maternity matrons, hoping to secure a reliable one early on.
According to data from ayilaile.com, a household service platform, the number of new orders has risen by 72 percent lately compared to the period before the Spring Festival. Orders for maternity matrons and nannies have grown 99 percent and 67.2 percent, respectively.
Growing along with the rising demand are the expectations of mothers towards domestic helpers.
According to Wu Wei, a maternity and childcare trainer at Ainong, a domestic service chain brand in Beijing, mothers nowadays are increasingly concerned not only about household affairs but also about their children's education and psychological health. When looking for domestic service workers, they prefer young and highly qualified individuals, she said.
Yu Xiangmei, 28, has just finished training to become a nanny working for an Ainong outlet. Yu's background as a kindergarten teacher, coupled with her outgoing personality, made a strong impression on her employer during the interview.
China's domestic service industry has experienced rapid growth in recent years due to factors such as smaller family sizes, an aging population, and the implementation of the third-child policy.
A report by iiMedia Research shows that the market size of the domestic service industry has nearly quadrupled from 277.6 billion yuan in 2015 to 1.015 trillion yuan in 2021, with a projected upward trajectory. The industry currently employs over 30 million workers nationwide.
Qian Yu, an official from the Beijing Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, explained that the development of the industry has given rise to new occupations like professional organizers, door-to-door cooking services, maternity and childcare specialists, early education providers, and home maintenance professionals, thus, creating more employment opportunities.
Yan Ling, 28, started her career around a decade ago, working as a workplace sanitation worker by day and an elderly caregiver at night in Chengdu.
A self-motivated person, she continuously expanded her skill set and worked her way up to become an administrative staff member at her company. Then she got herself trained to become a professional organizer, an in-demand occupation in which she helps clients in organizing their belongings, especially during seasonal changes or house moves.
Despite the rapid growth of China's domestic service industry, it still faces a supply-demand imbalance. In major cities, shortages of maternity matrons, nannies and elderly caregivers are particularly evident. The demand for young and high-end workers has risen significantly.
The country rolled out measures in 2019 and 2023 to boost the high-quality development of the industry, demanding efforts to establish more employment-based enterprises that provide social insurance and training to employees.
Qian said he believes that while ensuring workers' rights and interests, it is also important for businesses to provide promotion opportunities for employees to draw more educated and qualified young people to engage in the sector. ■
