SCIO briefing on China's economic performance in 2019
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E-mail China.org.cn, January 21, 2020
Ning Jizhe:
Fourth, market sales demonstrated stable growth with online retail sales taking up a notably bigger share of the overall sales.
In 2019, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 41.16 trillion yuan, up by 8.0% over the previous year. The retail sales of consumer goods by enterprises above the designated size was 14.80 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.9%. Analyzed by different areas, retail sales in urban areas reached 35.13 billion yuan, up by 7.9%, and retail sales in rural areas stood at 6.03 billion yuan, up by 9.0%. Grouped by consumption patterns, catering revenue was 4.67 trillion yuan, up by 9.4%; and the retail sales of goods was 36.49 trillion yuan, up by 7.9%. Upgraded consumer goods grew fast. The growth of retail sales of cosmetics, communication appliances, sports and recreational items, as well as household appliances and audio-video equipment by enterprises above the designated size rose by 8.7, 4.6, 4.1 and 1.7 percentage points respectively. In December, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 8.0% year-on-year and 0.53% month-on-month.
In 2019, online retail sales reached 10.63 trillion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 16.5%. In particular, the online retail sales of physical goods was 8.52 trillion yuan, up by 19.5%, accounting for 20.7% of the total retail sales of consumer goods, and was 2.3 percentage points higher than that of the previous year.
Fifth, investment in fixed assets witnessed steady growth and investment in high-tech industries grew fast.
In 2019, the investment in fixed assets (excluding rural households) reached 55.15 trillion yuan, up by 5.4% over the previous year. In particular, the investment in infrastructure was up by 3.8%, manufacturing up by 3.1% and real estate development up by 9.9%. The floor space of commercial buildings sold reached 1.72 billion square meters, down by 0.1%. The total sales of commercial buildings was 15.97 trillion yuan, up by 6.5%. The investment in the primary industry went up by 0.6%; the secondary industry up by 3.2%; and the tertiary industry up by 6.5%. Private investment was 31.12 trillion yuan, up by 4.7%. The investment in high-tech industries grew by 17.3%, or 11.9 percentage points faster than total investment, of which the investment in high-tech manufacturing and services increased by 17.7% and 16.5% respectively. The investment in social sectors went up by 13.2%, or 7.8 percentage points faster than the total investment, among which the investment in education and in culture, sports and entertainment went up by 17.7% and 13.9% respectively. In December, the investment in fixed assets grew by 0.44% month-on-month.
Sixth, foreign trade witnessed growth despite downward pressure and the proportion of general trade has continued to grow.
In 2019, the total value of imports and exports was 31.54 trillion yuan, an increase of 3.4% over the previous year. The total value of exports was 17.23 trillion yuan, up by 5.0%; and the total value of imports was 14.32 trillion yuan, up by 1.6%. The trade balance was in surplus of 2.92 trillion yuan. The imports and exports of general trade accounted for 59.0% of the total value of imports and exports, an increase of 1.2 percentage points compared with the previous year. The exports of mechanical and electrical products increased by 4.4%, accounting for 58.4% of the total value of exports. In particular, imports and exports with the European Union and ASEAN went up by 8.0% and 14.1% respectively. Imports and exports with countries along the Belt and Road has maintained a sound momentum, increasing by 10.8%, or 7.4 percentage points faster than the growth of the total imports and exports of goods. The export delivery value of industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 12.42 trillion yuan, up by 1.3% over that of the previous year.
Seventh, the growth in consumer price has met the projected target and producer prices for industrial products declined slightly.
In 2019, consumer price went up by 2.9% over the previous year, meeting the projected target of around 3%. Specifically, consumer prices went up by 2.8% in urban areas and 3.2% in rural areas. Grouped by commodity categories, prices for food, tobacco and alcohol went up by 7.0%; clothing up by 1.6%; housing up by 1.4%; articles for daily use and services up by 0.9%, transportation and communication down by 1.7%; education, culture and recreation up by 2.2%; medical services and health care up by 2.4%; and other articles and services up by 3.4%. In terms of food, tobacco and alcohol prices, prices for grain went up by 0.5%, fresh vegetables up by 4.1% and pork up by 42.5%. Core CPI excluding the prices of food and energy went up by 1.6%, which was 0.3 percentage points lower than that of the previous year. In December, the consumer price went up by 4.5% year-on-year, and maintained the same level as November month-on-month. In 2019, producer prices for industrial products went down by 0.3% over the previous year and for December, down by 0.5% year-on-year, and maintained the same level as November month-on-month. Purchasing prices for industrial producers went down by 0.7% over the previous year, and in December, down by 1.3% year-on-year, and was at the same level as November month-on-month.
Eighth, employment was generally stable and the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas met the projected target.
In 2019, the number of newly employed people in urban areas totaled 13.52 million, which remained above the 13-million mark for seven years in a row. This notably exceeded the projected target of 11 million and achieved 122.9% of the entire year's target. In December, the surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas was 5.2%. In 2019, the monthly surveyed unemployment rates in urban areas stayed within the range of 5.0% to 5.3%, achieving the projected target of around 5.5% and below. The surveyed unemployment rate of the main labor force aged between 25 to 59 was 4.7%. In December, the urban surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities was 5.2%. At the end of 2019, the registered unemployment rate in urban areas was 3.62%, or 0.18 percentage points lower than at the end of previous year, meeting the projected target of 4.5% and below. At the end of 2019, the total number of employed persons was 774.71 million and the number of urban employed persons was 442.47 million. The number of rural migrant workers reached 290.77 million, 2.41 million more and up by 0.8% compared to the previous year. Specifically, local rural workers totaled 116.52 million, up by 0.7%; migrant workers employed away from their homes totaled 174.25 million, up by 0.9%. The average monthly income of migrant workers was 3,962 yuan, up by 6.5% over the previous year.
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