Nearly 200 million Chinese, out of a 1.3 billion total
population, are working in private business enterprises, said a
report issued by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce
in Beijing Friday.
More than 110 million people had registered to work for private
companies or be self-employed by September 2007, the report
said.
"But the number is likely to reach 200 million since some small
businesses and self-employed people did not register at the
authorities," it said.
China had registered about 5.39 million private companies by
September last year, 8.2 percent more than at the end of 2006, the
report said.
They have contributed to 60 percent of the country's gross
domestic product (GDP).
Private business experienced a booming development in the past
three decades. The country used to incorporate private business
into state-owned enterprises before it adopted economic reform in
1978.
Big private industrial companies performed well last year. They
reported 400-billion-yuan (54.79-billion-U.S. dollar) profits in
the first 11 months of last year, a year-on-year increase of 50.9
percent, the report said.
A company, whose annual operation revenue is 5 million yuan
(685,000 dollars) or more, is considered a big one, according to
the report.
Private companies also invested more last year. In the first
11months of 2007, their fixed assets investment totaled 5.67
trillion yuan, up 36 percent over the same period in 2006. It
accounted for 56.4 percent of the total fixed assets investment in
urban areas.
(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2008)
