More and more urban Chinese residents prefer to work in private
companies with the number of employees in non-public businesses
rising by almost 11 million annually between 2002 and 2006,
according to figures from the National Bureau of Statistics.
In the four years, altogether 43.9 million urbanites found jobs
in non-public sectors, including 16.9 million in foreign-funded
firms and companies invested by business people from Hong Kong,
Macao and Taiwan, and 27 million in other forms of private
firms.
Meanwhile, the number of people working in state- and
collective-owned enterprises declined by 10.7 million in the four
years.
"The private sector of the economy has become a main avenue of
employment and re-employment in China," Zhong Youping, deputy head
of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, said at a
forum last month.
By the end of September this year, China's private enterprises
employ 120 million people, up 9.5 percent over September 2006.
(Xinhua News Agency October 5, 2007)