China’s three emerging first-tier cities - Hangzhou, Wuhan, and Chengdu, are becoming strong talent magnets, witnessing a huge inflow of talented professionals, said a report published Wednesday.

The report, released by Chinese online job-hunting platform Zhipin.com, said the net outflow rate of talents from first-tier cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, to emerging cities and provincial capitals was 0.61 percent from January to February 2019, 0.08 percentage points higher than that the same period last year.

Wuhan and Xi’an have also become attractive destinations for the labor force over the past 20 months thanks to their favorable policies, geographical advantages, and high investment in technology, the report indicated.

Industries including pharmacy and medical services, artificial intelligence, internet of things and 5G technology saw the highest demand for professionals.

In many cities, there is not much space left for new talents in industries such as the internet, education, finance, and professional services, but senior personnel in these sectors is still in high demand.

Data released by Zhipin.com showed that the average expected salary in new first-tier cities rose to 7,799 yuan ($1,162) in the first two months of this year, 5 percent higher than that in the same period of 2018.