Shanghai leads digital talent pool nationwide

Shanghai leads the digital talent pool nationwide as the city integrates information and communication technology with manufacturing and the financial sector, said a report jointly released by the Tsinghua University and LinkedIn today.

Digital talent includes both ICT expertise and trans-disciplinary talent. Such talent drives the development of the digital economy which is essential to power China’s economic and digital transformation, according to the China Digital Economy Talent Report.

China’s digital economy grew 16.6 percent in 2016, more than double the GDP growth rate last year, due to China’s world-leading e-commerce, mobile payment and sharing economy, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Beijing and Guangzhou are top cities for digital talent resources while Suzhou, Xi'an and Chengdu are “fast-growing” cities to attract digital talent. Shanghai and Shenzhen are the top two cities with an influx of digital talent, the report said.

In China LinkedIn, which has more than 36 million members, has launched a project called Economic Graph to analyze Chinese professionals’ employment experiences, professional skills, and talent flows over the past three years based on its database. The project will help China’s policymakers, employers and professionals better understand the digital skills needed in the country today, said LinkedIn, the world’s biggest professional networking platform.