China conducts an economic census every five years. On December 26, 2024, the country published the results of its fifth national economic census, conducted in 2023. Figures showed that China's employment structure has changed considerably since the previous census: The number of people employed in secondary industries decreased, while the number in tertiary industries increased. By the end of 2023, more than 164 million people were employed in secondary industries, a decline of 8.26 million or 4.8 percent from late 2018; the number of employees in tertiary industries reached roughly 265 million, rising by 54.01 million, or 25.6 percent.

China is a major manufacturing country, and secondary industries have been a main provider of jobs in the country. Therefore the drop of the number of employees in secondary industries has aroused some misunderstandings and caused some to suspect China's industrial production capacity has declined. This is understandable, given the impacts of COVID-19 and China-U.S. trade frictions, combined with the lack of understanding of China's economic conditions for some people.

Why is the number of employees in China's secondary industries decreasing while that in tertiary industries is increasing? The most important reason is China's ongoing economic restructuring. Since reform and opening up began in 1978, China has adopted a model of driving economic growth through investment and trade. In the early 2000s, in particular, the investment boom had brought about certain resource waste and environmental pollution, a way of economic growth that is unsustainable. To change this situation, China began economic restructuring, aiming to expand domestic demand and vigorously

develop its services industry. Tertiary industries have thus become a main powerhouse for economic growth. In 2023, tertiary industries contributed 56.3 percent to the country's GDP. Such an increase will inevitably be reflected in employment, especially because of the strong ability of tertiary industries to provide jobs. This is a major reason for the increase in the number of employees in tertiary industries.

The emerging services sector provides new opportunities to expand employment. According to the fifth national economic census, by the end of 2023, the workforce in information transmission, software services and information technology services sectors increased by 5.07 million compared to 2018.

The economic restructuring policy has not slowed down the growth of secondary industries. In the past five years, China's manufacturing industry has maintained rapid growth. By the end of 2023, China had 4.05 million manufacturing enterprises, up by 23.8 percent from the end of 2018, and the total assets in the manufacturing industry reached 151 trillion yuan ($21 trillion), surging 41.7 percent.

It is the progress of science and technology that has changed the working population in secondary industries. The fifth economic census showed that in 2023, more than half of China's industrial enterprises above the designated size have applied digital technologies in multiple links of their production and operation chains.

In addition, with the development of the Internet and refined social division of labor, some links of industrial production, such as design and testing, have been separated and reclassified, so some employees in secondary industries have been transferred to tertiary industries, which changes the employment structure.

Obviously, the decrease in the working population in China's secondary industries and the increase of that in tertiary industries is a result of China's progress in science and technology. Such changes are in line with the general law of economic and social development. In the future, as artificial intelligence is widely applied, these changes may become an even more remarkable trend. BR

Copyedited by G.P. Wilson

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