Life in China’s first-tier cities, appears to a bit lonelier than other regions.
According to a new report from recruitment site Zhaopin and dating agency Zhen’ai, more than half of employees in China’s four first-tier cities are single and have been for an average of two years, Yicai Global reported.
Some 57.45% of 4,859 valid survey respondents indicated that they are without a partner, the firms said.
The survey, to which 2,412 men and 2,447 women responded, considered workers’ love lives in five areas: partner selection, love, breakups, blind dates and marriage, the report said.
More than half of the singletons had been without a partner for more than three years, while the average was 24.5 months, the report said.
Nearly half of all professionals spend between 1,001 yuan (US$143) and 3,000 yuan on building and maintaining relationships, at an average of 2,181 yuan, the report said.
First-tier cities typically have more single workers as competition is fierce and there is more pressure to earn a lot of money, according to the report.
Guangzhou had the highest proportion of singles in the workplace at 65.8%, followed by Shenzhen at 62.4%, Shanghai at 58% and Beijing at 53.5%, the report said.
Around 72.6% of those surveyed believe the main reason they are single is that they have not yet found the right partner, while 87% are open to blind dates and nearly half are looking forward to marriage.
Men prefer women who work as teachers, doctors or civil servants, while women are mostly looking for men in tech, research and medicine.