Among them, the number of those with a high school or higher education diploma was up 2 percent year-on-year, and the number of those with a vocational certificate was up nearly 10 percent.

Some manufacturers hope that industrial automation will help improve workers' abilities. "We're not talking about driving workers away. Our goal is to enable our staff to achieve higher efficiency with the assistance of robots," said Yuan Xiongbin, deputy general manager of Dongguan CAIC Winnerway Automobile Company.

The automaker has automated its production lines to support a 3.5-billion-yuan new energy vehicle program. It required the equipment supplier to offer training for all its employees.

Economics professor Luo Mingzhong said although automated manufacturing seems a distant worry for workers, given the labor shortage, training of workers deserves more attention because it can help maintain a stable job market and accelerate China's economic restructuring.