The purchasing managers index (PMI) for China's non-manufacturing sector stood at 56 percent in November, down from 56.3 percent for October, according to official data released on Tuesday.

A PMI reading above 50 percent indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 percent indicates contraction.

The non-manufacturing PMI tracks service, construction, software, aviation, railway transport and real estate among other sectors, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) and the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP).

China's manufacturing PMI was 51.4 percent in November, the same as that in October and the highest for 19 consecutive months, showed NBS figures on Sunday.

Cai Jin, CFLP vice chairman, said construction and information services are becoming increasingly active, and the non-manufacturing sector is absorbing more labor.

The sub-index for new orders dropped 0.6 percentage points to 51 percent in November. But the sub-index for new export orders gained 0.5 percentage points to 49.9 percent in November, though it was still in contraction territory.

The sub-index for employment stood at 51.9 percent, up 0.4 percentage points from October.

More companies in the non-manufacturing sectors expect their business to grow in the coming three months, with the business confidence index hitting 61.3 percent, up 0.8 percentage points from October.

Non-manufacturing PMI ran at a high level in November with rising employment and business confidence, indicating the healthy development of the economy, Cai said.

The Chinese economy grew 7.7 percent in the first nine months of 2013, higher than the government's full-year target of 7.5 percent. GDP growth in the third quarter accelerated to 7.8 percent from 7.5 percent in the second. Endi