Number of new self-employed businesses grows 14.3% in Q1

A total of 5.03 million self-employed businesses were newly set up in the first quarter of 2023, up 14.3 percent year-on-year, official data has shown.

That compares to 3.24 million during the same period of 2019, CCTV reported quoting data from the State Administration for Market Regulation.

As of the end of the first quarter, the country's registered self-employed businesses had reached 116 million, accounting for two-thirds of China's total business entities, giving strong support for improving people's livelihood, employment and economic resilience.

During the first three months, the number of new self-employed businesses in areas such as cultural, sports and entertainment; transportation, warehousing and postal services; accommodation and catering; wholesale and retail reached 75,000, 188,000, 679,000 and 2.65 million, up 39.0 percent, 25.1 percent, 19.8 percent and 10.4 percent respectively.

In recent years, with the booming development of new technologies, industries and business modes, new self-employed businesses such as livestreaming and individual business running via WeChat have appeared and injected new vitality for China's economic transition.

After COVID, self-employed businesses recovered quickly, playing an important role in facilitating people's lives and smoothing economic microcycles, the administration said, adding that it will take effective measures to promote the high-quality development of individual businesses.