National Bureau of Statistics: At the end of 2023, the number of employees in the secondary and tertiary industry legal entities nationwide reached 430 million.

On December 26th, the State Council Information Office held a press conference to introduce the results of the fifth national economic census. Kang Yi, Deputy Director of the leading group for the fifth national economic census of the State Council and Director of the National Bureau of Statistics, stated at the meeting that as of the end of 2023, there were a total of 33.27 million legal entities engaged in secondary and tertiary industries nationwide, an increase of 11.481 million or 52.7% compared to the end of 2018. There were also 36.36 million industrial activity units, an increase of 118.1 million or 48.1%, and 87.995 million individual businesses, an increase of 25.036 million or 39.8%.

In terms of industries, the top three industries in terms of the number of legal entities in secondary and tertiary industries are wholesale and retail trade with 10.197 million, accounting for 30.6%; leasing and business services with 4.609 million, accounting for 13.8%; and manufacturing with 4.049 million, accounting for 12.2%.

In terms of regions, the eastern region has 17.941 million legal entities in secondary and tertiary industries, accounting for 53.9%, which is a decrease of 2 percentage points compared to the end of 2018. The central region has 7.334 million, accounting for 22%, with an increase of 1.4 percentage points, while the western region has 6.372 million, accounting for 19.2% with an increase of 0.6 percentage points. The northeastern region has 16.23 million legal entities, accounting for 4.9%, which remains basically unchanged from 2018.

Kang Yi also stated that as of the end of 2023, there were 430 million employees working in legal entities in secondary and tertiary industries nationwide, an increase of 45.748 million or 11.9% compared to the end of 2018, including 170 million female employees. There were also 160 million employees in the secondary industry, a decrease of 8.263 million or 4.8%, and 260 million employees in the tertiary industry, an increase of 54.012 million or 25.6%. There were also 180 million employees working in individual businesses, including 84.2 million female employees.

In terms of industries, the top three industries in terms of the number of employees in legal entities in secondary and tertiary industries are manufacturing with one billion employees, accounting for 24.4%; wholesale and retail trade with 53.258 million employees, accounting for 12.4%; and construction with 51.172 million employees, accounting for 11.9%.

In terms of regions, there are 220 million employees working in legal entities in secondary and tertiary industries in the eastern region, accounting for 52.3%, which is a decrease of 1.8 percentage points compared to the end of 2018; while in central region there are 98.907 million employees, accounting for 23.1%, with an increase of 1.1 percentage points; in western region there are 86.32 million employees accounting for 20%, with an increase of half a percentage point; and there are also about quite a number employed in the Northeast (more than around second edition press run), but the proportion decreased by some degree compared to that in the previous year due to some structural changes within local industries caused by factors such as industrial transformation and upgrading among other factors driving local employment shifts over time during the pandemic era .