The contribution of high value-added industries such as new energy and biotechnology to China’s total economic inputs expanded in February, due to a surge in capital inputs, a Caixin index showed Thursday.
The Caixin BBD New Economy Index (NEI) came in at 29.5 last month, indicating that monitored new economy industries accounted for 29.5% of China’s overall economic input activities. The gauge climbed 1.2 points from 28.3 in January.
The NEI uses big data to track the size of China’s new economy sectors. It measures labor, capital and technology inputs in 10 emerging industries — including new energy, new-energy vehicles, and advanced equipment manufacturing — relative to those in all industries.
The uptick last month was driven by a rise in the subindex for capital inputs. With a 35% weighting, the subindex soared 5.1 points from January to 40.8, fueled by a significant surge in venture capital levels.
Meanwhile, the labor input subindex, which has a 40% weighting and measures employee income and the number of positions in the relevant industries, weakened 0.8 points month-on-month to 22.1 in February.
The technology input subindex, which gauges the number of research personnel recruited by the tracked industries, as well as the number of inventions created and patents obtained, dipped 1 point to 25.4 last month. It makes up the remaining 25% of the NEI.
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 deemed strategically important by the government.
Of the 10 tracked industries, the new information technology sector remained the largest contributor in February, accounting for 7.8 points of the reading. Biotechnology ranked second, contributing 4.2 points, while new energy gained significantly by 2.4 points to 3.4 points.
The average monthly entry-level salary across the 10 industries was 13,580 yuan ($1,968) in February, down 442 yuan from the previous month, according to data compiled from online career and recruitment websites.
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 Bertrand Teo (bertrandteo@caixin.com)
Read more about Caixin’s economic indexes.
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