Wu Ai, a divorced mother from a village in Zhaoqing, Guangdong province, experienced financial difficulties after the breakdown of her marriage. However, a turnaround came after she attended free training in household management.

Currently, Wu is rated among the best-performing yuesao (a maternity and newborn attendant hired to work in a client's home for about a month after the child's birth) in her company and has been promoted as an executive.

"Many of my fellow villagers saw the changes in my life and asked me about the program," she said.

The program, launched by the Human Resources and Social Security Department of Guangdong in August 2019, focuses on training in postpartum nanny, household, elder care and nursing services to help people increase their income and vitalize the rural economy.

Deng Xiaomei, a yuesao from the village of Baoshan in Zijin county of Heyuan, Guangdong, has also benefited from the program. She told Economic Daily that her services cost from 13,800 yuan to 15,800 yuan ($2,180 to $2,500) per month.

"Many of my clients are returning ones," Deng said. "After I took care of their first baby, they would like to hire me again when they had their second and third babies."

Like Deng, more than 10,000 yuesao from Heyuan are serving in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Economic Daily reported.

"It is said that the difficulty in seeking a perfect nanny can rival that of finding your better half," the Beijing-based newspaper quoted Xu Jianqing, president of the Heyuan Family Service Association, as saying.

A contestant learns about an elderly woman's needs in a vocational skills competition. ZHANG FENGFENG/FOR CHINA DAILY

More than half of urban families in Heyuan have a demand for domestic services, such as housekeeping and infant care, Xu said.

A special commercial street lined with domestic service businesses was created in the city, in 2020, providing services from postpartum nannies, elder care and cleaning to aromatherapy at home and tailor-made postpartum dinners. The street has also attracted related businesses, such as policy consultants, dispute mediation, skills training and business incubation services.

The business cluster offers the service providers with more opportunities to cooperate and grow stronger, said Deng Xiaoqiang, head of the city's HR and social security department. "So many excellent businesses and talents get together, bringing a dramatic change to the market."

Wang Zhaohui, general manager of a health management company in the city, said many of her company's clients are young people with higher requirements for domestic services.

"We have invested a lot of energy and time in research for our training courses and hope to arm our staff with professional health management expertise and sharpen their competitive edge," Wang said.

The household management training program produces more qualified service providers and spurs healthy growth of the market, industry insiders said.

The government has released 11 provincial professional standards for household services, 27 household management training standards and 10 training books.

The industry is attracting a growing number of young job seekers.

In June 2020, Guangdong Business and Technology University established the province's first undergraduate major for household service providers. To date, scores of higher education institutions, as well as more than 200 secondary vocational schools in the province provide such a major, with a combined enrollment surpassing 130,000 students.

During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), more than 1.15 million people are expected to receive training in domestic services across the province.