Emerging new first-tier cities in the country have become popular destinations for highly skilled professionals, holding more appeal than Beijing and Shanghai, according to a recent report.

The eastern city of Hangzhou, home to e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and a branch of Chinese leading gaming outfit NetEase Inc, is shaping up to be the most attractive destination for the inflow of highly skilled professionals in 2018, according to a report from business networking website LinkedIn.

The ratio between highly skilled professionals who head to Hangzhou for work opportunities and those who leave it tops all cities in China, reporting a score of 1.58 for this indicator. Shanghai was given 1.21 and Beijing 1.15, putting them in 10th and 11th place respectively.

Zhou Zhenyu, head of the data science team at LinkedIn China, noted the trend reflected the increasing potential for business innovation and employment growth in new first-tier cities.

"For job hunters, the development of those cities provides broad prospects and they will have a better life compared to living in first-tier cities such as Beijing and Shanghai," Zhou added.

The report shows that Shenzhen, in Guangdong province, and Chengdu, capital of Sichuan province, are the second and third most attractive destinations, reporting scores of 1.38 and 1.34 respectively.

Other popular cities among jobseekers include Suzhou in Jiangsu province, Xiamen in Fujian province and Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, according to the report.

Seeing talent as the major driver for innovation and economic growth, a growing number of Chinese cities, especially new first-tier cities, have rolled out favorable policies, such as offering discounted house purchases for college graduates and free accommodation for jobseekers. The move is also in line with the call for a balanced development pattern of economic growth across the nation.

Notably, the internet sector has become the most attractive industry for job seekers in 2018, followed by real estate, auto industry, finance and education management, which see more inflow than outflow of talented people.

In contrast, telecommunications, information technology and services, petroleum energy, mechanical engineering and retail are gradually losing their appeal.

"As more people tend to join more capital-intensive, more innovative and profitable industries, many traditional sectors now face greater challenges in recruiting talent. Hot industries will consistently see higher job-hopping rates," Zhou added.

He cited the instance of the internet and telecom industries, saying that the average tenure for employees in the former sector is 1.47 years, compared to 2.6 years for the latter.