As China’s economy grows, so too does the services sector’s role

World Today

China’s economy has expanded significantly in the past five years, new data showed.

“Legal entities are cells for economic activities, and increased 52.9 percent in the past five years,” National Bureau of Statistics Commissioner Ma Jiantang said. “Employees increased 30.4 percent, and enterprises’ assets increased 1.25 times.”

The service sector played an increasingly important role. By the end of 2013, legal entities in the tertiary industries increased 5.7 percentage points from that at the end of 2008, while employees in the sector increased 3.5 percentage points. There was upgrading in manufacturing, with rapid growth in high-tech manufacturing.

“By the end of 2013, high-tech manufacturing enterprises took up 7.8 percent of the manufacturing industries above designated size, up by 1.3 percentage points than the end of 2008. 27 thousand enterprises spent 203 billion yuan in R&D, it’s 1.78 times than that in 2008,” said Ma.

China launched the third national economic census in 2013, covering the secondary and tertiary industries. The first two economic censuses were conducted in 2004 and 2008.