Wuhan offers new deal to graduates in effort to retain talent

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In a bid to boost local innovation and upgrade the economy, authorities of Wuhan in central China’s Hubei Province issued new policies on the registered residency, housing and income for graduates from Wuhan’s colleges.

First, age restrictions have been relaxed on granting permanent residency to college graduates from other cities. According to the new policy, all graduates under the age of 40 can apply for permanent residency in Wuhan, while Masters and PhD students are not subject to age restrictions.

Wuhan will build affordable houses with a total floor area of more than 2.5 million square meters in five years, to meet the graduates' housing meed. University and college graduates will be able to buy houses of a total floor area of 850,000 square meters or rent houses at 80 percent of the market price.

The city has also become the first in China to introduce a minimum annual salary guideline: 40,000 yuan (about 6,083 US dollars) for college graduates; 50,000 yuan for undergraduates; 60,000 yuan for Masters and 80,000 yuan for PhDs.

By the end of September this year, the number of college graduates settled down in Wuhan increased by 311 percent over the same period last year, reported Xinhua.