Over Half of Chinese College Grads Aspire to First-Tier Cities, 7116 Yuan Incomes

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A new report indicates that the majority of China’s upcoming crop of higher education graduates plan to move to one of the country’s first-tier cities to seek their fortunes in the IT, internet, telecommunications or finance sectors.

Internet company 58 Group (58集团) has just released its “2018 Higher Education Graduate Employment and Settlement Report (2018高校毕业生就业安居报告), after conducting a survey graduates with bachelor’s or advanced degrees as well as graduates from vocational schools.

32.90% of survey respondents were from vocational colleges, 49.85% are obtaining bachelor’s degrees, were 17.25% were research students.

In terms of age 13.53% were between 18 and 20 years of age, 75.39% were between 21 and 24 years of age, and 11.08% were between 25 and 28  years of age.

The survey found that the upcoming crop of higher education graduates have a monthly salary expectation of 7116 yuan, while more than half would like to pursue careers in one of China’s first-tier cities.

The top three sectors that survey respondents hope to enter are IT/ the internet, telecommunications and finance.

Respondents said that the chief reasons for wanting to pursue careers in these sectors included strong development prospects, personal interest as well as parental expectations.

While the average 7116 yuan monthly salary expectation of China’s higher education graduates is higher than the actual average of 6019 yuan, remuneration hopes are even greater in first-tier cities where living costs are higher.

Beijing topped the list in terms of salary expectations, with graduates looking forward to remuneration of as much as 9982 yuan per month.