NBS census reveals tertiary industry's growing power

China's National Bureau of Statistics released the Third National Economic Census results on Tuesday, indicating obvious changes in the economic structure during the past five years.

Legal entities in the secondary industry accounted for 25.3 percent, down by 5.7 percentage points over the end of 2008, the statement said.

In the tertiary industry, legal entities accounted for 74.7 percent, up by 5.7 percentage points.

Employees in the secondary industry accounted for 54.1 percent of all workers, 3.5 percentage points lower than that at the end of 2008. While that in the tertiary industry they accounted for 45.9 percent or 3.5 percentage points higher.

The tertiary industry has become an important driving power of China's economy and a key to stabilize the labor market, said Ma Jiantang, the director of NBS.

Besides the structural changes, the data also showed largely expanded total economic size and improved growth efficiency and quality, said Ma.

After the release of the results, the NBS plans to revise the GDP growth rate of 2013, which was previously announced at 7.7 percent. The revision margin will be around 3 percent and the final figure will be announced on Dec 19.

At the end of 2013, there were 10.85 million legal entities in the secondary and tertiary industries, up by 52.7 percent, or an increase of 3.758 million by the end of 2008.

The size and profits of high-tech manufacturing industry also saw rapid growth during the five years, according to the economic census.