Robust growth of the private sector has made it China's major new jobs provider, contributing 90 percent of new positions, Minister of State Administration for Industry and Commerce Zhou Bohua said Thursday.

At the end of the first quarter, private firms employed more than 152 million people, Zhou said in Qingdao, a seaside resort in east China's Shandong Province, at a forum to boost development in the private sector.

Zhou said more than 700,000 laid-off workers found jobs again last year in the private sector.

Vice Minister Zhong Youping said the country had 7.55 million private companies at the end of March, up almost 14 percent year on year, with total registered capital exceeding 15 trillion yuan (2.2 trillion U.S. dollars), up 26.9 percent.

The private companies employed 86.98 million people at the same period, up 11.19 percent year on year.

Zhong said individually-run businesses rose by 9.56 percent to 32.29 million by the end of March, employing 65.36 million people, up 12.51 percent.

Zhong urged local industry and commerce bureaus to continue their support for the private sector, following the central government's support plan unveiled in May to boost development in the private sector. This included improving financing services, easier market access to more industries currently mainly state-controlled, and simplifying administrative procedures.

Zhong said local bureaus should carry out these policies and encourage private companies to have more involvement in high-tech industries, infrastructure building, environmental protection.