SHENZHEN is the best performing city in Asia, according to a new index compiled by U.S. independent economic think tank the Milken Institute, which was released Thursday.

    Milken examined job creation, income creation and the economic value of industries in various cities for its first Asia-focused index.

    “As the first of modern China’s special economic zones, Shenzhen remains a major production hub, boasting factories that employ tens of thousands of workers who produce iPhones for Apple and assemble components for many other firms,” said Ross DeVol, the Milken Institute’s chief research officer and one of the authors of the study.

    “Yet lately the city’s rapid progress up the economic ladder has been fueled by higher value-added — and better-paying — industries such as telecommunications, finance and bio-pharmaceuticals,” he added.

    Six of the Asian cities ranked in the top 10 were in China, with Guangzhou, Chengdu, and Tianjin rounding out the top four. Beijing, ranked seventh and Shanghai 10th.

    Milken said that Shanghai, China’s major financial center and most populous city, lost out to other Chinese cities because it’s unable to compete with high-tech manufacturing hubs.

    The Best-Performing Cities Asia index ranked cities based on their economic performance, looking specifically at growth in jobs, household income and high value-added industries over five years (2008 to 2013) to adjust for extreme variations in business cycles.

    Cost of living comparisons or quality of life conditions, such as pollution levels or commute times, were not examined.

    (SD-Agencies)