Since 2017, some of China’s second-tier cities have begun to launch favorable policies to attract new talent. This has inevitably raised the competition of talent development among the cities. By far the policies have been conductive for the maturity of human resources market and more balanced development of different cities in China.

Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, provides various settlement policies and preferential policies for entrepreneurship. Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province has issued the minimum annual salary guidance standard for college graduates, 50,000 yuan (8,000 US dollars) for undergraduates, 60,000 yuan (9,500 US dollars) for masters and 80,000 yuan (12,700 US dollars) for doctoral graduates. Wuhan will construct affordable housing for university graduates, allowing university graduates to buy or rent apartments at a price less than 20 percent of the market price. 

Meanwhile, graduates with bachelor's degrees under the age of 40 may apply for local household registration. Graduate students and doctoral graduate students are not subject to age restrictions for local household registration. 

In Zhengzhou, central China's Henan Province, all college graduates can apply for local household registration. Zhengzhou also provides subsidies for living expense and buying apartments, under certain conditions.

Furthermore, Zhengzhou has taken use of database, online and offline platforms to supply services and facilities for talents as well as their families. Hangzhou in east China's Zhejiang Province has published policies not only to attract talents from other Chinese cities, but also to lure overseas Chinese or even foreign skilled employees.

For a long time, first-tier cities have achieved extraordinary development due to advantages in location, policy and education resources. Industrial agglomeration effects have become more and more apparent and talents have kept rushing into first-tier cities. 

The growing of super cities has also brought traffic congestion and rising living costs. The siphon effect of first-tier cities have created a huge gap between first-tier cities and others. China is shifting towards more inclusive, higher-quality, and more balanced development. It has become an inevitable choice to extract the function, industry and population of the first-tier cities. 

On the other hand, some second-tier cities have seized the opportunity of economic restructure, acceptance of industry transfer and rise of new industry. They have achieved great progress in economy, society, science and technology via re-planning development strategy and gained potentials to become new first-tier cities. 

According to the statistic data, eight second-tier cities including Nanjing, Wuhan, Hangzhou and Zhengzhou joined the club of which GDP has reached over 1,000 billion yuan (158 billion US dollars).  Quite a number of well-known enterprises are seeking investment opportunities in these cities. Therefore, they become increasingly attractive and their demand for talented human resources is also increasing.

Although there might be some difference in talent development among these cities, the policies mainly cover cash subsidies, affordable housing and household registration which are linked to most social welfare benefits. 

These policies start reaching effective results in practice. The inflow of talented people in these cities is very obvious. The competition of talents development is conductive for the maturity of human resources market and more balanced development of different cities in China. 

However, some people worry that although the policies will help to narrow the gap between them and first-tier cities, it may create bigger ones within cities. Moreover, some second-tier cities set very harsh conditions when offering  welfare and benefits to the in-flowing talents, which offset the attraction to the people.

Thus, the local governments of such cities should notice that welfare, housing and money can attract some people in the short time, but may not be sustainable in the long run. After all, professionals aim mainly at the prospects for career development rather than just benefits.

(Liu Chunsheng is an associate professor at Central University of Finance and Economics and the deputy dean of Blue Source Capital Research Institute. The article reflects the author's opinion, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.)