Peking University's Institute of Urban Soft Power and Zhaopin released the 2025
China New-Quality Talent Competitiveness Index on July 8. Beijing, Shenzhen and
Shanghai remains the top three, forming the first-tier cluster for new-quality
talent development. New first-tier cities account for 36.83% of recruitment
demand for new-quality talent, the highest share across city tiers and the main
source of incremental talent inflows. Employment preferences of 16–34-year-old
new-quality talent are shifting from first-tier cities toward Chengdu, Hangzhou,
Suzhou, Nanjing and other new-first-tier or industry-specialized cities; the
pace of talent attraction in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen has
moderated.
