Shanghai remains top city for attracting talented professionals

Report attributes inflows to policies aimed at growing emerging industries

Shanghai's net inflow of talented individuals continued to rank first in China last year, according to a recent report released by Zhilian Recruitment titled "China City Talent Attraction Ranking: 2023".

The report, released yearly since 2017, surveys cross-city job search data to analyze talent mobility. The latest report listed Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen as the cities with the highest attraction index in 2022.Yet in terms of the net flow ratio of talented individuals, one of the index's major indicators, Shanghai once again came in first, as it did in 2021.

The net inflow ratio of talented individuals is used to understand the inflow and outflow of talented individuals to a city. If the net inflow ratio is positive, it means that the city has the ability to attract and retain talented individuals.