Despite the issues with living in Beijing, including sometimes severe air pollution and skyrocketing housing prices, more professionals are willing to stay in the capital, mainly because of better job opportunities, according to a survey released on Tuesday.
In the survey of 7,000 professionals during the first quarter of 2017, 45.5 percent said that they were willing to stay in Beijing and 25.7 percent said that they were not. The remainder were unsure.
The survey was conducted by domestic professional development platform liepin.com.
Job opportunities were cited as the main reason that many would stay.
"Demand for talent in Beijing is leading the country … so it's no wonder that regardless of how expensive housing becomes, more professionals are striving to stay in Beijing," said the survey, which was sent to the Global Times.
Among the 15 major cities with high demand for talent, Beijing accounted for 26.1 percent, 5 percentage points higher than for Shanghai, which was in second place, according to the survey.
The Internet sector in Beijing posted the highest demand, with nearly 48 percent of the city's demand being in the Internet sector, while the financial and real estate sectors accounted for 17.2 percent and 6.8 percent of the total demand, respectively, the survey said.
