Wire, Cable, Optical Fibre and Electrical Materials Workers

How to become an Optical Fibre and Cable Maker

Official Chinese title (2022 occupational classification): 光纤光缆制造工

Also called: Fibre Colouring and Ribbon Worker, Fibre Buffering Worker, Optical Cable Sheathing Worker, Fibre Screening Worker, Fibre Drawing Worker, Optical Cable Stranding Worker

Runs specialist equipment to make optical fibre preforms, optical fibre, fibre optic cable and optical components.

Main tasks

Making fibre preforms by vapour deposition from silicon tetrachloride, oxygen, hydrogen and other raw materials with specialist equipment
Drawing preforms into fibre with a first coating on drawing towers, screening machines and similar equipment
Colouring fibre or making fibre ribbon by colour code or fibre count on colouring and ribbon machines
Placing fibre or ribbon in tight or loose plastic or metal tubes and filling them with water blocking material to make buffer tubes, with plastic sheathing or metal tube welding equipment
Stranding tubes, filler cords and strength members into a cable core with cabling equipment
Extruding plastic or combined metal and plastic sheaths over the cable core to make part finished or finished cable with sheath extrusion equipment
Stranding or wrapping steel wire or tape over the part finished core with armouring machines
Packaging optical components such as connectors, splitters, filters and couplers with tapering machines, coupling alignment instruments and similar equipment
Testing the geometry, optical properties and transmission performance of fibre and the transmission, mechanical and environmental performance of cable
Maintaining equipment and tooling and fixing faults

Pay · AI and this job

Median pay in China: CN¥64,700 a year (2025).
Middle half: CN¥51,200 to CN¥82,200. One in ten earn less than CN¥42,000 and one in ten more than CN¥103,200.
This is the figure for the mid group Electrical Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing Workers, not for this job alone.
National figure: wage prices of enterprise employees from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) enterprise pay survey. The public sector and the self-employed are not covered.
Guangzhou only: median CN¥84,672 a year (2025), middle half CN¥79,559 to CN¥98,414.
This is the figure for the minor group Wire, Cable, Optical Fibre and Electrical Materials Workers, not for this job alone.
Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Who does this work

The census group Electrical Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing Workers holds 0.37% of everyone employed in China; 40.3% of its workers are women (2020 Census).
48.6% are under 35, 46.6% are 35 to 54 and 4.8% are 55 or older. The middle age band is 35 to 39.
Census figures for the whole mid group (2020 long-form sample), not for this job alone.

Questions people ask

How much does an Optical Fibre and Cable Maker earn in China?

Across China, the median pay of enterprise employees is CN¥64,700 a year (Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS), 2025). The public sector and the self-employed are not covered. It is the figure for the mid group Electrical Machinery and Equipment Manufacturing Workers. In Guangzhou alone it is CN¥84,672 a year (2025).

Will AI change the work of an Optical Fibre and Cable Maker?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS): 2025 enterprise pay survey information: wage prices of enterprise employees by occupation mid group, and digital occupations (P10 to P90 annual CNY) (2025 (published 2026-07-08)), retrieved 5 October 2026
Guangzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau: Guangzhou 2025 labour market wage prices (P10 to P90 annual CNY by occupation) (2025 (enterprise pay survey)), retrieved 4 October 2026
National Bureau of Statistics of China: China Population Census Yearbook 2020, long-form tables 4-6 and 4-7 (employed by occupation mid group, sex, age) (2020 Census long form (10% sample)), retrieved 4 October 2026
International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Sources: Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition, public consultation draft), Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, State Administration for Market Regulation and National Bureau of Statistics; Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, 2025 enterprise pay survey information; Guangzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2025 labour market wage prices; National Bureau of Statistics of China (www.stats.gov.cn), 2020 Population Census yearbook; Ministry of Education, vocational education major profiles (2022 revision) and undergraduate major catalogue (2025); Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, national vocational qualifications catalogue (2021); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Figures processed by Peernovo. English text, translations and the matching of occupations to ISCO-08, majors, degree fields and qualifications by Peernovo.

Descriptions and tasks are Peernovo's own words, written from the facts in the Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition). Job titles and work types are the classification's own.

Updated 5 October 2026