The "goalkeeper" among the top 10 GDP cities makes another move to "attract talent"

According to Nanjing Daily, on January 4, the first working day of the new year, the Nanjing Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government held a city-wide conference on the in-depth integrated development of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation. At the conference, the 2.0 version of Nanjing's talent policy was released. Nanjing will implement the "Ningju" project, aiming to attract no less than 300,000 young talents annually.

For newly employed college graduates, the new policy clearly states that one-time living subsidies will be provided: 10,000 yuan for bachelor's degree holders, 30,000 yuan for master's degree holders, and 100,000 yuan for doctoral degree holders. Meanwhile, the new policy introduces the "Youth Talent Housing Voucher" for the first time. College diploma holders, bachelor's degree holders, master's degree holders, and doctoral degree holders can respectively receive housing purchase subsidies of 30,000 yuan, 60,000 yuan, 100,000 yuan, and 150,000 yuan. This subsidy can be used in combination with the existing rental subsidies, and the housing provident fund loan limit will be increased. In addition, the scope of rental subsidies is expanded to eligible college diploma holders for the first time, with a standard of 500 yuan per month.

The new policy also clearly states that the Youth Talent Promotion Project will be implemented, including talents in new business forms and innovation and entrepreneurship service talents in the scope of support. In addition to talents in traditional industries such as natural sciences, engineering technology, philosophy and social sciences, and medical and health, it also includes tour guides, e-commerce practitioners, couriers, food delivery workers, online car-hailing drivers, technology managers, investment managers, etc.

Moreover, the policy is not only for talents introduced from outside the city. For the first time, it clearly states that "local talents' entrepreneurship will be equally supported." Scientific and technological achievements transformation projects from local universities and excellent local entrepreneurship projects can apply for project funding of up to 3 million yuan, and special support for teams is also added.

Local media reports point out that the new policy reflects Nanjing's attitude and determination to invest in people with real money and love talents as if they were their own.

Currently, as the competition for talents becomes increasingly fierce, one of the major challenges Nanjing has faced for a long time is its relatively weak population attraction.

As early as 2021, Nanjing proposed the goal of "breaking through 10 million in permanent population." However, in the past few years, Nanjing's population growth has been sluggish. The population increase was over 100,000 in 2021, and then decreased to 67,700, 55,900, and 30,000 respectively, showing a decreasing trend.

As of the end of 2024, Nanjing's permanent population reached 9.577 million, still with a gap of 423,000 from the goal of 10 million. It is also the only city among the top ten GDP cities in the country with a population of less than 10 million.

Nanjing has not been idle. In 2023, Nanjing announced the relaxation of the household registration threshold. People with a college diploma under the age of 35 can register for household registration as long as they pay social insurance. Since then, centering on the strategy of "strengthening the city with talents," Nanjing has successively introduced new talent policies such as the "25 Measures for Strengthening the City with Talents" and the "7 Policies for Talents in Key Industries," establishing a "full-chain" support system from young college students to top talents.

Nevertheless, in the eyes of the outside world, different from provincial capital cities such as Hefei, Zhengzhou, Chengdu, and Xi'an, Nanjing not only faces competition from other cities within the province but also from central cities such as Shanghai and Hangzhou in the vicinity. Moreover, Nanjing's radiation scope is mostly outside the province, while cities like Hefei have a high primacy within the province and have a stronger ability to attract the provincial population.

Currently, with the goal of accelerating the construction of a main bearing area for an industrial scientific and technological innovation center with global influence, "Nanjing has a more urgent need for talents and a stronger thirst for talents than ever before."

On January 4, the "Implementation Plan for Nanjing to Deeply Promote the 'Artificial Intelligence +' Action and Build an Upgraded Version of the National Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Application Pilot Zone" and the "Action Plan for Nanjing to Build a '6G City' (2026 - 2027)" were released simultaneously, clearly stating the need to promote the in-depth integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation and accelerate the shaping of new drivers and advantages for development.

It can be seen that this new policy in Nanjing focuses on the two orientations of "youth development and serving industries." It is committed to further "attracting people with industries and retaining people with the city" through a solid industrial platform, a good business environment, and a continuously optimized living environment. This is also Nanjing's "active move" to break through the population bottleneck and enhance the city's competitiveness.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Urban Evolution Theory." The author is Liu Yanmei. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.