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Service industry attracts more employees in Guangdong

By Qiu Quanlin (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-08-25 10:38

GUANGZHOU: More workers have been employed in the service industry in the southern province of Guangdong in the first half of this year, thanks to the provincial government's policy to upgrade its industrial structure, officials from the provincial statistics authority said Monday.

Workers employed in the service sector accounted for 32.3 percent of the province's workforce in the second quarter, an increase of 1 percent from the fourth quarter of last year, authority officials said.

"It showed the importance of the province's strategy to upgrade its industries," said Feng Shengping, a researcher with the Guangdong provincial situation study and research center.

In Guangzhou and Dongguan, two major traditional manufacturing bases in the Pearl River Delta region, the number of workers involved in the service industry increased by 0.7 and 0.6 percent respectively in the second quarter.

The provincial government mapped out the "dual transfer" strategy last year to help the province, especially the Pearl River Delta region, focus on high-tech industries and achieve more balanced economic growth.

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"The financial turmoil has exacted a heavy toll on the delta region, which means that the region's low-end manufacturing-reliant development model has come to an end. It has to recast itself by embracing technological innovation to gain a new competitive edge," Feng said.

The plan also sets a goal of building the delta into a leading global manufacturing and service industry base, Feng said.

"The plan has helped ease employment pressure in the prosperous Pearl River delta area," Feng said.