More job seekers are moving to smaller cities to escape the pressures of living and working in metropolises like Beijing and Shanghai, a report on employment in the first quarter said.

Fueled by a series of preferential government policies, jobs in e-commerce, Internet services and real estate became the most sought-after in the first quarter.

The competition index of jobs, which shows the popularity of cities with job seekers, put Chengdu in Southwest China at the top, with Xi'an, in Northwest China, second, and Shenyang in Northeast China third. The report on job supply and demand in the first quarter, was released on Monday by Zhaopin.com, a Chinese human resources website.

Meanwhile, the four metropolises, traditionally hot cities for job hunters, have witnessed a decline: Shenzhen was listed fourth, Beijing ranked eighth, and Shanghai and Guangzhou failed to rank in the top 10, the report said. "The increasing pressures of living and working in the larger cities, and their environmental challenges, have driven some talent away recently," said Zhu Hongyan, chief career consultant of Zhaopin.com. "This makes them run to the second-tier cities such as Chengdu and Xi'an, which offer promising futures with job promotions and economic development, thus raising the job competition index."

The job competition index of Chengdu was 42.5, meaning each job advertised was receiving 42.5 applications on average. The index for Shanghai, the lowest ranking of the four first-tier cities, was 29.7 in the first quarter.

However, in measuring monthly salaries, the report said that the four metropolises were listed in the top five, and this entices much talent to stay.

The growing attraction of small cities has been a trend observed by Tsinghua University in Beijing, which released data that for three consecutive years, more than 50 percent of its graduates have taken jobs outside of Beijing, the Beijing Morning News reported.

"It is estimated the proportion of graduates moving to other cities will be high this year," said Zhang Qiguang, director of the university's career development center, in the report.

The graduate students have moved away from seeking jobs in the capital, he said, adding that population restriction policies from the municipal government and career advice from the university are also major reasons for talent flooding out of the capital.

Hot occupations continue to focus on just a few industries because of preferential policies released by governments and other authorities, the report from Zhaopin.com said.

Internet services and e-commerce businesses have the highest demand for talent, and they also offer the most pay at 8,626 yuan ($1,392) per month on average, the report said, with real estate companies and financial enterprises just behind them.