Employment, social morality and public security are the top three issues people in Shanghai are concerned with most, according to the Municipal Statistics Bureau.

The latest survey issued by the statistics bureau yesterday said that 23.8 percent of interviewees showed concern for their jobs, down 1 percentage point from a year ago and 4.1 percentage points less than in 2003. It is the third year for employment to hold the most concerned title among all the issues.

Social morality attracted 18.8 percent of the interviewees' attention, 0.3 of a percentage point higher than the average level around the country. It once was the most concerning issue in 2001, but has maintained the second position for four years.

Shanghai was honored as one of the safest cities in China, which weakened people's attention on public security. The survey said that 13.7 percent of the total interviewees chose safety as the issue of most concern, which made the issue less concerning than employment and morality.

Environmental focus is beginning to rapidly surge. About 7.1 percent of the interviewees were paying attention to it, up 1.6 percentage points compared with 2004, the survey said.

Wage and welfare (12.8 percent), housing (8.3 percent), corruption (7 percent), education (4.9 percent), land requisition and removal (3.5 percent) are another five among the nine most concerning issues, according to the statistics bureau.

(Shanghai Daily March 28, 2006)