Suggestions from deputies to attract and retain more top professionals

Local lawmakers have put forward a few proposals during the ongoing legislative session for the government to attract and retain more top professionals in a bid to help the city increase its competitiveness.

Xu Bin, a deputy from Hongkou District, suggested a preferential real estate property loan rate for young professionals working in the science and technology sector.

Currently in Shanghai, those who purchase their first apartments are required to make a down payment of at least 35 percent, which makes it impossible for many young professionals to settle in the city even a few years into working here, according to Xu.

“Shanghai faces a big drain of professionals who eventually have to settle elsewhere,” Xu said. “If Shanghai can’t retain them, then it will become a human resources training base for other cities and also face a drain of intellectual property rights.”

He suggested that the down payment rate be reduced to 20 percent for apartments under 110 square meters for young professionals working in the science and technology sector.

Zhong Jin, a deputy from Putuo District, also suggested that the city’s “talent apartments,” offering preferential rents to professionals, should open their doors wider.

“It’s very hard for foreigners to apply for and get approval to rent those apartments, and it’s impossible for companies to apply for the apartments for their employees as a group,” he said. “Also, most of the apartments have only one bedroom, which is not suitable for professionals who have a family.”

Yao Jian, a deputy from Changning District, said that young children of many top Chinese professionals who have multiple years of work experience in other countries can’t easily get accepted by local schools when they return to live in Shanghai.

Many Chinese multinational companies now dispatch professionals to work in other markets and after three to five years, those people often get promoted to higher posts and are expected to return to China to lead the company, Yao said.

Many of those professionals take their young children with them when they leave to work overseas, and the children who are to resume their education in Shanghai afterwards face certain problems.

According to Yao, such children who have never been enrolled in an education institution in Shanghai can’t get enrolled in schools which require local education registration. And due to the fact that the children’s parents are not foreign citizens, the children can’t enroll in foreign international schools.

“As a result, some top Chinese professionals would rather keep working in other countries than return to China, just for the sake of their children's educations, which is a big loss for Shanghai,” he said.

Yao suggested that the government allow children of Chinese nationals who are top executives with multiple years of overseas work experience to enroll in foreign international schools, and also allow qualified professionals to choose any local school for their children.