Service sector plays a key role in China’s economic growth

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According to official figures, the service sector has been energizing China's economy and labor market in recent years. Big data, information technology and new logistics programs are spurring the sector's momentum.

A new retail strategy is booming, and blends online and offline shopping.

China's new supermarkets like Hema are beginning to discover the benefits. In a store in Beijing, a manager said through big data, they can optimize what they have in stock.

For this, Hema says a single job may face downsizing for new technologies. But their operations will involve more openings in areas like catering, online delivery, programming, and e-commerce development.

Chen Dongqing, general manager of Hema Beijing, said in each store, there are about 250 direct jobs in the sales chain, providing more job opportunities than traditional stores.

And he said this new model promotes more organizations, resulting in higher profits.

Supermarket is an example of the development of the Chinese service sector in recent years. It helps improve national economic development and increases job opportunities in a new business model.

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The service sector is becoming the key engine for China's economic growth. Such contributions have been growing in recent years, and it accounted for almost 60 percent of the economic growth in 2017, spurring more growth in other areas as well.

Liu Jinzhong, an official from China's National Bureau of Statistics, said the new engine for the service sector covers fields of information transmission, software, Internet, business services and scientific research.

These help the service sector seek new growth. China's total online retail sales in 2017 increased by almost a third of what it was the previous year.

Last year, this resulted in the service sector contributing up to 70-percent growth and more than 13.5 million new jobs created in urban China. According to statistics, since 2015, services related to the Internet economy have had much more growth than traditional service industries.

Officials say the service sector will keep good momentum throughout 2018, and better supervision and management will be in place for healthy development.