By Reuters Staff
(Adds context)
BEIJING, Jan 19 (Reuters) - China’s power consumption in 2020 rose 3.1% from the previous year, the country’s state planner said on Tuesday, despite several months of disruptions to industrial activity caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said at a press briefing that electricity consumption from primary industry grew 10.2% from 2019, while consumption from secondary and tertiary industry increased 2.5% and 1.9%, respectively.
The NDRC did not give the absolute figures for power consumption last year. In 2019, China consumed a total of 7.23 trillion kilowatt hours (kWh).
China has been leading the global economic recovery since emerging from the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 2.3% in 2020, making China the only major economy in the world to avoid a contraction last year as many nations struggled to contain the coronavirus.
Job market kept stable despite virus By ZHAO YIMENG | China Daily | Updated: 2021-01-19 09:15 Share CLOSE A job seeker inquires at a company s booth at a job fair in Yichang, Hubei province, on Jan 2, 2021. [Photo by Wang Jianfeng/for China Daily]
COVID-19 epidemic hit retailers but created openings in digital economy
China s job market remained stable last year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday, with an average surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas of 5.6 percent, below the government s annual target of around 6 percent.
Last month, the surveyed urban unemployment rate was 5.2 percent, and the figure was 4.7 percent among people aged 15 to 39, both unchanged from the same month in 2019.
China’s economy expanded by 2.3% in 2020, roaring back from a historic contraction in the early months of the year to become the only major world economy to grow in what was a pandemic-ravaged year. China’s ability to expand, even as the world struggled to control a deadly virus that has killed more than two .
COVID-19 epidemic hit retailers but created openings in digital economy
China s job market remained stable last year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Monday, with an average surveyed unemployment rate in urban areas of 5.6 percent, below the government s annual target of around 6 percent.
Last month, the surveyed urban unemployment rate was 5.2 percent, and the figure was 4.7 percent among people aged 15 to 39, both unchanged from the same month in 2019.
A total of 11.86 million new jobs were created in urban areas last year-132 percent of the annual target.
Zhang Yanhua, an associate professor at China University of Labor Relations in Beijing, said the surveyed urban unemployment rate accurately reflected the effects of the government s proactive job policies in aiding economic recovery amid the COVID-19 epidemic.