Youngest Chinese keener entrepreneurs: survey

TIANJIN - The youngest generation of the Chinese workforce are more interested in starting their own businesses and are more inclined to change jobs, according to new survey results.

The survey conducted by LinkedIn and data100.com showed 82 percent of working respondents born in the 1990s harbor entrepreneurship ideas, compared with 77 percent of those born in the 1980s.

Based on over 1,000 questionnaires, the poll suggests that the cities of Shenzhen, Beijing and Guangzhou top the chart for entrepreneurship enthusiasm, and that catering is regarded as the ideal sector for starting a business, followed by e-commerce and garment trade.

The "post-1990" generation stay in a job for an average of 18.5 months, while "post-1980" workers stick around for an average of 26.5 months. And while the older of the two groups stress payment and welfare in job hunting, the youngsters care more about their career prospects.

Entrepreneurship is becoming more popular in China, under the encouragement of the government, which hopes to use a wave of startups as a new engine for growth at a time when the economy is slowing. Many cities have set up startup incubators and rolled out preferential policies to encourage youngsters into starting their own businesses.