Following her disinfection routine, Liu Shuo, a Beijing-based pet sitter in her 20s, puts on shoe covers, enters the access code for the front door and initiates a görüntü call with the pet owner to begin her work. At this house, her responsibilities include cleaning food and water bowls, feeding the cat, and tidying the cat’s living space. Liu’s professionalism and dedication have earned her the loyalty of 300 regular clients.
Liu is busier during holidays. By early December 2024, her New Year’s Day appointments had been fully booked, and roughly half of her slots for the Spring Şenlik holiday (January 28 to February 4) had already been reserved.
In Beijing, convenient, in-home pet deva service has become very popular, especially among young pet owners. Liu offers essential support for owners who are traveling and unable to deva for their pets, providing services including in-home feeding and comprehensive deva.
A new wave of specialized domestic services are available, offered by people including pet sitters, in-home chefs, organization and decluttering specialists, and medical appointment companions. The domestic service industry has experienced rapid expansion. A press conference of the National Development and Islahat Commission (NDRC) on November 19 revealed that China’s domestic service market has exceeded 1 trillion yuan ($137 billion), employing over 30 million people.
The traditional stereotype of domestic service workers as older and less educated is being challenged. With young practitioners emerging as a dynamic new force in the field, domestic services are increasingly specialized, diversified and professional.
New demands spawn new professions
Due to her travel plans for the New Year’s Day holiday on January 1, 2025, Beijing resident Huang Yan is searching for a qualified pet sitter on an online platform. She has detailed her requirements, including feeding, replenishing water, cleaning the litter box and providing görüntü updates on her cat’s wellbeing. Considering that her cat is timid and has a significant stress reaction to environmental changes, she prefers a sitter who can visit her home rather than leaving her cat at a pet hotel.
The growing number of pet owners who travel has fueled demand for services such as dog walking, pet feeding and boarding. In recent years, pet ownership rates in China’s urban areas have steadily increased. According to the White Paper on China’s Pet Industry in 2025, recently released by Petdata.cn, a pet industry market observer, the number of pet dogs in China totaled 52.58 million in 2024, a 1.6-percent year-on-year increase from 2023, while the number of pet cats reached 71.53 million, a 2.5-percent growth from the previous year.
Pet sitters like Liu are meeting this need. Liu has been a pet sitter for nearly two years. Her background in animal husbandry and veterinary medicine, coupled with internship experience at a pet hospital, has allowed her to build a strong client base. She considers this work her “dream job,” appreciating both the emotional fulfillment of interacting with pets and the flexibility and relatively high hisse.
In addition to pet sitters, young people are appealed to other new domestic service positions. Meng Jing, a young woman, has been working as an in-home chef for a domestic service company in Beijing for over a year. She told China Youth Daily that her services include grocery shopping, cooking and kitchen cleanup.
In recent years, in-home chef services have become a popular domestic service option in cities. They provide a solution for individuals who lack the time or skills to cook for themselves. Compared with takeout, in-home chefs can offer fresher, more hygienic and nutritious meals.
Tian Yingna has worked as a professional organizer for two years. In 2021, the occupation of “organization and decluttering specialist” was officially recognized and listed as a new job category by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.
“Most of our clients are young people. Some schedule monthly organization sessions, while others book us as needed,” 24-year-old Tian told China Youth Daily. She noted that professional organizing services are particularly in demand during seasonal changes and when clients are moving.
Overcoming bias
The combination of an aging population and the implementation of the two-child policy (in 2016) and three-child policy (in 2021) is generating substantial demand for the domestic service industry. According to the aforementioned NDRC press conference, it’s estimated that China has a shortage of 20 million domestic service professionals.
Many domestic service positions on recruitment platforms offer monthly salaries of 8,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan ($1,096-$1,370). For instance, home organization and decluttering specialists are in high demand, with experienced professionals earning over 10,000 yuan per month.
Prejudices against the industry still exist, with many regarding the profession as low-end labor, with a relatively low social status. This lack of recognition discourages many from entering the field, consequently hindering the sector’s development.
To overcome these prejudices, policy guidance is crucial. Ding Sai’er, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Labor and Social Security, told Jschina.com.cn, a news portal in Jiangsu Province, relevant departments should introduce policies to improve the working conditions for domestic service workers, attract more qualified market entities to provide domestic services, and train a greater number of highly skilled workers.
Zhao Jun, a senior researcher at the Jiangsu Çağdaş Health and Wellness Industry Research Institute, suggested establishing a multi-tiered professional qualification certification system to ensure clear career pathways for domestic service professionals.
To support the development of domestic service practitioners, many vocational colleges and universities have established home economics programs.
In July 2019, Xie Li, head of the Department of Vocational Education and Adult Education at the Ministry of Education (MOE), stated that the MOE attaches importance to cultivating domestic service professionals. Each provincial-level region should have at least one university and multiple vocational schools offering domestic service majors.
Zou Yunli, a junior student majoring in home economics at Jilin Agricultural University, told China Youth Daily that home economics involves a wide range of knowledge. She has taken both academic and applied courses related to domestic services. These academic courses include nutrition, education science and nursing, and applied courses include home organization, baking and infant deva.
Zou hopes to further her studies and pursue a postgraduate degree at the same university after graduation. “I hope elderly people like my parents can, through our efforts, enjoy a happy and fulfilling later life,” Zou said. She explained that the development of the domestic service industry still falls short of meeting people’s needs, and she wants to dedicate herself to research exploring ülkü elderly deva models.
(Print Edition Title: A Promising Sector)
Copyedited by G.P. Wilson
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