Chengdu is an important education center and home for reputable universities in China. There are 51 universities and colleges universities with a total of 570,000 students and 34,000 full-time teachers on campus. There are 1.8 million technicians and engineers working in the city, ranking fourth in China, and first in West China.
Chengdu has a well developed IT industry with over 200,000 IT related professionals; ranking first in West China. The city has 20 institutes of higher education providing IT related programs.
Since 2008, enterprises operating in China’s coastal areas (Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Suzhou and Dalian) are evaluating opportunities in West China due to a hike in labor cost in richer East China regions. In fact labor cost in Chengdu is between 30% to 50% lower than first tier cities such as Shanghai and Beijing.
Asides from cost advantages, Chengdu offers a very comfortable living environment, which is attractive for talents from other regions in China seeking opportunities in a fast growing city. Due to its particular characteristics, Chengdu labor market in the IT industry is very stable with low turnover rate in comparison to other cities in China with an average annualized rate of 8%.