The contribution of high value-added industries such as biotech to China’s total economic inputs climbed in November due chiefly to a rise in labor inputs, a Caixin index showed Friday.
The Caixin BBD New Economy Index (NEI) came in at 30 last month, indicating that monitored new economy industries accounted for 30% of China’s overall economic input activities. It is up 1.5 points from 28.5 in October.
The NEI uses big data to track the size of China’s nascent sectors. It measures labor, capital and technology inputs in 10 emerging industries relative to those in all industries.
Last month’s gain was fueled mainly by a rise in the labor input subindex, which has a 40% weighting in the overall NEI. The subindex, which measures employee income and the number of positions in new economy industries, rose 3.1 points from October to 27.1 in November.
The subindex for capital inputs, with a weighing of 35%, rose 1.8 points to 34.6 last month.
In contrast, the technology input subindex dipped 1.6 points from October to 28.2. The reading has a 25% weighing and gauges the number of research personnel recruited by the tracked industries, as well as the number of inventions created and patents obtained.
Launched in March 2016, the NEI defines a new economy industry as one that is technology- and human capital-intensive, but asset-light, experiences sustainable and rapid growth, and is strategically encouraged by the government.
Of the 10 tracked industries, the new information technology industry remained the largest contributor in November, accounting for 9.6 points of the NEI reading. The biomedicine sector ranked second, contributing 5.6 points.
The average monthly entry-level salary in the 10 industries stood at 13,662 yuan ($1,935) in November, according to data compiled from online career and recruitment websites, down 556 yuan from the previous month.
Monthly NEI reports are written by Caixin Data Technology Co. Ltd. and Chinese big-data research firm BBD, in collaboration with the National School of Development at Peking University.
Contact reporter Zhang Ziyu (ziyuzhang@caixin.com) and editor Michael Bellart (michaelbellart@caixin.com)
Read more about Caixin’s economic indexes.
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