Archives 2017

China creates over 13 million new jobs in 2016: official

China created over 13 million new jobs in urban areas in 2016 as part of an effort to stabilize the slowing economy. The country has seen over 1.2 million jobs created for three consecutive years, from 2014 to 2016, according to Economic Information Daily.

Despite the economic slowdown, the Chinese government has managed to keep a low urban registered unemployment rate, partially through employment services and support for college graduates, as well as for workers laid off from industries with excess capacity.

About 5.11 million workers in urban areas were re-employed from January to November 2016, or 102.2 percent of the goal set for the year. What’s more, 1.54 million people categorized as difficult to employ found jobs, accounting for 128.3 percent of the annual target, according to reports.

Employment will remain a top priority in the next year due to lingering pressures. Experts believe 130 million new jobs will be created in 2017, as the industrial structure will be optimized and the economy stabilized. Reports indicate that approximately 25 million new jobs will be created during each year of the 13th Five-Year Plan period, among which 10 million are set aside for registered workers who have been laid off, 1.5 million are for college graduates and 3 million are for surplus agricultural laborers.

Employment will be the top priority of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS), according to Yin Weimin, MOHRSS minister. A total of 7.95 million college students are expected to graduate in 2017, according to China’s Ministry of Education.

Chen Baosheng, the minister of Education, said the numbers of college students who secured employment or started their own businesses after graduation has increased in the last three years. A report by Renmin University showed that 89.8 percent of college students have considered starting their own businesses, and 18.2 percent indicate firm plans to do so. The Ministry of Education called for improved policies that encourage college students to become entrepreneurs.

About 1.8 million jobs in the steel, coal and mining industries may have been lost by cutting overcapacity, which is the biggest employment pressure in five years, according to MOHRSS. The ministry has reportedly issued policies redistributing laborers in more than 20 provinces.

Online car sales companies merge

Two of China’s online second-hand car trading platforms have announced plans to merge.

Companies clcw.com.cn and kx.cn agreed to work together to promote a customer-to-business model, known as C2B, to tackle the difficulty of individuals selling cars.

Clcw.com.cn has established nine branches across the country and accumulated more than 10,000 car dealers on its platform. Meanwhile, kx.cn has a strong brand influence and regional operation management.

Clcw.com has witnessed rapid growth since it was established in 2015. With 16,000 vehicles sold via its website and app last year, founder Xie Lei said its annual transactions have reached a value of 640 million yuan ($92.4 million).

Kaixin is the first online platform to adopt a C2B model to facilitate the selling of used cars from individuals to used-car dealers. With nine years of development, Kaixin became an industry giant and claims 8.8 percent of the used car dealing market in Shanghai.

“C2B can help customers sell cars at a reasonable price. It is the only model that suits China’s actual conditions and caters to Chinese car-buyers’ need,” Xie said.

Xie said the newly-merged company will establish four operation centers nationwide, and more than 300 offline stores that provide related services in finance, insurance and ancillary products selling.

The company aims to reach a turnover of 12 billion yuan with 200,000 cars sold on its platform in 2017.

Services sector expands fastest in 17 months

China’s services sector expanded at the quickest pace in 17 months in December as new orders increased rapidly in a further sign that the economy was stabilizing, a private survey showed yesterday.

The Caixin General Services Purchasing Managers’ Index edged up to 53.4 last month from 53.1 in November, according to the survey conducted by financial information service provider Markit and sponsored by Caixin Media.

It was the highest reading since July 2015 as demand in the sector picked up.

A sub index showed growth in new work at services companies quickened to a 17-month record, according to the survey.

The fast growth in the services sector echoed an increase in manufacturing activities as the Caixin General Manufacturing PMI, released on Wednesday, rose to a four-year high of 51.9 points.

“Manufacturing and services both expanded in December, showing that recovery in the economy continued,” said Zhong Zhengsheng, director of macroeconomic analysis at CEBM Group. “The Chinese economy performed better in the fourth quarter than in the previous three quarters” adding that he was certain the government’s full year growth target of between 6.5 and 7 percent will be reached.

In the first three quarters, China’s GDP grew 6.7 percent, within the official target of 6.5 to 7 percent. But it was 0.2 percentage points lower than the annual growth in 2015.

Services made up 58.5 percent of GDP growth, up 3.4 percentage points from a year earlier.

The Caixin PMIs, slanted toward private and export-oriented companies, indicated the private sector expanded in December and outperformed China’s official PMI.

China’s official PMI, released on Sunday by the National Bureau of Statistics and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing and focusing on state-owned manufacturers, dipped to 51.4 in December from November’s 51.7. But PMI stayed in the expansion zone for the fifth straight month with the reading above 50.

In the services sector, the official non-manufacturing PMI dipped to 54.5 from November’s 54.7 points.

Chinese couriers to collect 500 bln yuan in 2017

China’s burgeoning courier service sector is predicted to generate 500 billion yuan (72 billion U.S. dollars) in business revenue this year, a postal official said Thursday.

Over 40 billion express parcels will be sent in 2017, said Ma Junsheng, head of State Post Bureau (SPB).

In 2016, 31.3 billion parcels were sent, and the service created over 200,000 jobs, data from SPB showed.

The sector collected 400 billion yuan of business revenue last year, compared to just shy of 30 billion yuan in 2006, Ma said, calling the sector a “dark horse” of the economy.

China’s courier market has grown from a handful of small businesses into a vibrant market contested by industry heavyweights, expanding 50 percent annually over the past six years, he said.

Leading delivery service provider ZTO Express became an NYSE-listed company in October 2016, the biggest U.S. IPO by a Chinese company after e-commerce giant Alibaba.

The debut came after the domestic listing of Yto Express, while competitors including SF Express, STO Express and Yunda Express expect to follow suit this year in a rush to buy more land, facilities, equipment and trucks.

The couriers’ success is replicable and adaptable for the global market, Ma said.

Last year, the country’s couriers helped deliver products bought online worth over 4 trillion yuan, or 12.5 percent of total retail sales of consumer goods, he said.

Still, China wants couriers to better serve its manufacturing industry and, to this end, it has launched 322 pilot coordination projects to accommodate an annual industrial output of over 120 billion yuan.

On the agriculture front, courier services have helped expand sales channels for farm products, and facilitated the sale of products worth over 100 billion yuan in 2016 and facilitated an on-going poverty-relief campaign.

The sector is well-positioned for the task, as courier services now cover 80 percent of towns and villages, and the country plans to extend this network by 2020, according to the SPB.

The increasing heft of the sector reflects China’s solid progress in re-balancing its economic structure from manufacturing and investment to services and consumption.

Delivery and postal services are leading the growth in the service sector in China, home to the world’s fastest growing postal market, Ma said earlier.

The country aims to deliver 50 billion express parcels annually, generating 800 billion yuan in business revenue, by 2020.

December manufacturing activities expand to four-year high: private survey

China’s manufacturing sector continued to expand with the purchasing managers’ index hitting a 47-month high in December, a private survey showed Tuesday.

Caixin General China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), a private gauge of China’s manufacturing activity, came in at 51.9 in December, up from 50.9 in November, according to a survey conducted by financial information service provider Markit and sponsored by Caixin Media Co. Ltd.

This was the index’s biggest rise since January 2013, and production grew at the fastest pace in nearly six years thanks to an increase in total new work.

Official manufacturing PMI released on Sunday stood at 51.4 in December, lower than 51.7 in November and staying above the 50-point boom-bust line for the fifth straight month.