Communiqué on Major Data of the First National Economic Census of China (No. 1)

COMMUNIQUÉ ON MAJOR DATA OF THE FIRST NATIONAL
ECONOMIC CENSUS OF CHINA

(No. 1)

Office of the Leading Group of the State Council for
the First National Economic Census

National Bureau of Statistics of China

December 6, 2005

China conducted its first economic census in 2004 with the aim to keep abreast of the development of the secondary and tertiary industries [1] of China in terms of their size, structure and economic results, to establish a sound system of the registers and databases of the basic units, and to provide the foundation for preparing plans for national socio-economic development and improving policy-making and management. The reference time for the economic census was December 31st of 2004, and the flow data covered the whole year of 2004. The economic census covered all legal person units, establishments and self-employed individuals [2] who were engaged in the secondary and tertiary industries within the territory of China. The main contents of the census include the basic characteristics of the units, the employees, the financial situations, the production and business operation situations, the production capacity, the consumption of raw materials and energy, as well as the scientific and technological activities.

The enumeration, data check and data processing of the Economic Census was completed, thanks to the joint efforts over the past year or so from various localities and departments and from all enumerators. The Office of the Leading Group of the State Council for the First National Economic Census and the National Bureau of Statistics will release 3 Communiqués of the Economic Census to the public. The first Communiqué is disseminated as follows.

I. Basic Condition of Units

By the end of 2004, there are altogether 5.169 million legal person units engaged in the secondary and tertiary industries. Of which, there are 3.25million corporations, 0.9million departments and institutions, 0.105million social groups and 0.914 million other legal units. There are 6.824 million establishments, of this total, 1.675 million are from the secondary industry, and 5.149 million are from the tertiary industry. The total numbers of self-employed individuals are 39.216 million, of which, 5.887 million are engaged in the secondary industry, and 33.329 million are engaged in the tertiary industry (see table 1).

Compared with data of the same coverage from the 2nd National Census on Establishments in 2001, the number of corporations rose by 0.223million, or 7.4%. There were 0.192 million corporations with state ownership, state joint ownership or sole state fund ownership, 0.177 million corporations less, or a drop of 48.2%; there were 0.456million corporations with collective ownership, collective joint ownership or share-holding cooperative ownership, 0.402million corporations less, or a drop of 46.9%. on the other hand, the census registered 0.406million share-holding corporations Ltd. and other limited liability corporations, an increase of 0.106 million corporations or 35.2%; there were 1.982 million corporations with private enterprises, an increase of 0.658 million more or 49.7%;62 thousand other domestic enterprises, an increase of 25 thousand corporations or 66.5%; and 0.152million enterprises with funds from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan or with foreign funds, an increase of 13 thousand corporations or 9.6% (see table 2).

Over 50% of the establishments engaged in the secondary and tertiary industries are in the eastern part of China [3], the distribution of those units shows the pattern of descending from the east to the west. There are 2.91 million legal person units in the eastern part of China, accounting for 56.3% of the total; that in the central part are 1.193 million, accounting for 23.1%; and 1.066 million in the western part, or 20.6%. The numbers of establishments in eastern part are 3.583 million, accounting for 52.5%; that in central part are 1.713 million, accounting for 25.1%; and 1.528 million in western part, accounting for 22.4%.

In terms of the number of legal units engaged in the secondary and tertiary industries, the top ten regions are: Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Shanghai, Henan, Sichuan, Beijing, Liaoning and Hebei.

In terms of numbers of self-employed individuals, the top five regions are: Shandong, Henan, Zhejiang, Guangdong and Hebei (see table 3).

Among the establishments, 1.375 million units are engaged in manufacturing industry, accounting for 20.1%, that of the wholesale and retail industries are 1.202 million, accounting for 17.6%; education 0.596million, accounting for 8.7%; public management and social organizations 1.544 million, accounting for 22.6%. The above-mentioned four sectors account for 69% of the total (see table 4).

Self-employed individuals are mainly spread in the following five sectors: 5.323 million self-employed individuals in industrial sector, accounting for 13.6%; that in transport 6.217 million, accounting for 15.9%; that in wholesale and retail trade 18.311 million, accounting for 46.7%; hotel and catering trade 2.939 million, accounting for 7.5% and 4.138 million in household service and other services, accounting for 10.6% (see table 5).

II. Number of Employed Persons

By the end of 2004, the total number of employed persons [4] in the secondary and the tertiary industries are 308.828 million. Of which, those engaged in the secondary industry are 154.638 million, and those in the tertiary industry are 154.19 million. There are 214.604 million people engaged in establishments, accounting for 69.5% of the total, and the self-employed individuals are 94.224 million, accounting for 30.5%. Of the total employed persons in the establishments, the proportion of female is 36.7%, or 78.822 million.

Among the total number of employed persons engaged in units, there are 83.905 million in manufacturing sector, accounting for 39.1%; construction industry 27.926 million, 13.0%; public management and social organizations 19.252 million, 9%; education 15.218 million, 7.1% and wholesale and retail trade 13.825 million, 6.4% (see table 6).

Among the employed persons in units, the proportion of postgraduates, university graduates, college graduates, senior high school graduates, junior high school graduates and below is 0.7%, 8.0%, 15.7%, 33.6% and 42.0% respectively. of the total number of employed persons with technical posts, the proportion of people with senior, intermediate and junior technical titles is 9.5%, 36.9% and 53.6% respectively. of the total number of employed persons with certificates of technical skills, the proportion of senior technicians, technicians, senior mechanics and middle rank mechanics accounts for 2.6%, 8.2%, 32.8% and 56.4% respectively (see table 7).

III. Capital Actually Received by Enterprises

By the end of 2004, among the 3.250 million corporations of the secondary and the tertiary industries, the total value of capitals actually received by corporations [5] is 18.2 trillion yuan. Of this total, the state capitals were 8.7 trillion, accounting for 48.1%; collective capitals were 1.4 trillion, accounting for 7.9 %; individual capitals were 5.1 trillion, accounting for 28%; capitals from Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR and Taiwan province were 1.3 trillion, accounting for 7.3% ; and foreign capitals, 1.6 trillion, accounting for 8.7% (see table 8).

IV. Quality of Census Data

Office of the Leading Group of the State Council for the First National Economic Census made a spot-check among 31 regions by using the stratified systematic cluster random sampling, a total of 21,731 legal person units and establishments (3‰) in 152 census districts and 45,623 self-employed individuals (1.1‰) were covered in this process. According to the results, the comprehensive error rate is 4.9‰, which met the set target of data quality.

Notes:

[1] The primary industry refers to agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery. The secondary industry refers to mining and quarrying, manufacturing, production and supply of electricity, water and gas, and construction. The tertiary industry refers to all other economic activities not included in primary or secondary industries, including transportation, storage, post, telecommunications, computer services and software, wholesale and retail trades, hotels, catering trade, banking, real estate, leasing and business services, scientific research, technical services, geological prospecting, water conservancy, environment and management of public facilities, household and other related services, education, health, social securities, social welfare, culture, sports, recreation, public management, social organizations, and international organizations. The current census does not include international organizations.

[2] Legal person unit refers to economic unit meeting the following criteria: a) established by law with its own name, internal organization and locations, and capable of fulfilling independently its civil obligations; b) with independent ownership or rights (or authorized with rights) of using assets and bearing liabilities, with authority to sign contracts with other units; and c) with independent financial accounting, capable of compiling assets and liability tables.

Establishment refers to auxiliary unit of a legal person unit meeting the following criteria: a) engaged or mainly engaged in one economic or social activity at a fixed location; b) organizing its production or business operation independently; and c) with accounting data on its revenue and expenses (production account data).

Self-employed individuals refer to economic units except rural households where the means of production is owned by individuals, individual work constitutes the basic form of operation, and the results of operation are owned by or at the disposal of the individuals concerned. They include: a) individual business registered at the business registration offices at all levels with operation licenses issued by such offices; b) non-corporate units approved by civil affairs departments with certificates issued by such departments; and c) urban or rural self-employed individuals without licenses or certificates, but with fixed location and are engaged in individual operation for more than 3 months in a year. Not included in this category are part-time activities of rural households with spare labor force or during slack seasons.

[3]Eastern Region covers Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Liaoning, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Guangdong and Hainan; Central Region covers Shanxi, Jilin, Heilongjiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Henan, Hubei and Hunan; and Western Region includes Inner Mongolia, Guangxi, Chongqing; Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan, Tibet, Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang.

[4]Employed persons refer to those employed by economic units or self-employed individuals in the secondary or tertiary industries, not including activities not covered above, such as housemaids, family tutors, free-lance professionals, etc., resulting in slightly smaller number than those in the China Statistical Yearbook.

[5]Actual capital refers to capital (or capital stock) actually invested by investors of enterprises in various forms such as money, tangible and intangible assets. In terms of ownership, capital can be classified as state capital, collective capital, private capital, capital from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, and capital from foreign investors.