The information economy in Chinese cities is developing thanks to the growing number of computer programmers.

Programmers in a company in Hainan province. (Photo/Xinhua)

With information technology developing so rapidly, the term "programmer" these days is virtually synonymous with high income. According to data, in cities' private sectors, information transmission, software and information technology services is the industry with the highest average annual incomes with 85,301 yuan ($12,377).

Information transmission, software and information technology services is a typical high value-added industry with advantages in technology, talents and capital, said Fu Yifu, a senior researcher at the Suning Institute of Finance.

Fu added that both private Internet companies and system integrators selling software have the ability to collect high profits from downstream companies, resulting in high income for programmers.

Nowadays, with various industries becoming increasingly dependent on computer applications, a large number of programmers are involved in design, construction, application, maintenance and security.

Statistics from the Fourth National Economic Census in Beijing show that the Chinese capital is home to as many as 1,389,000 IT-related employees, equivalent to the number in Shanghai and Shenzhen combined. There are about 700,000 employees in information transmission, software and information technology services in Shanghai and Shenzhen. Guangzhou ranked fourth with 537,400 employees, and the number of employees in the field in Hangzhou has also reached about 400,000.

Big companies such as Baidu, Meituan and Didi are located in Beijing; Tencent and Huawei are based in Shenzhen; Alibaba is located in Hangzhou, and Pinduoduo is based in Shanghai. With their technical strength, resource integration ability and regional radiation ability, many Internet giants have attracted a large number of "programmers".

According to data from Tencent's open platform, an average of 12,000 new companies have been registered every day in recent years, at an annual growth rate of 33.74 percent. Experts say a steady stream of new companies in China provide a broad field for "programmers" to give full play to their skills.