Robotic arms assemble engines on an assembly line at a workshop of the Weichai Power Co Ltd. in Weifang city, east China's Shandong province, April 22, 2021. (GUO XULEI / XINHUA)

BEIJING – China's value-added industrial output, an important economic indicator, went up 3.6 percent year-on-year in the first eight months of this year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Friday.

From January to August, fixed-asset investment from the private sector increased 2.3 percent from a year earlier to 20.31 trillion yuan

In August alone, the country's industrial output rose 4.2 percent year-on-year after deducting the price factor. The figure was 0.32 percent higher than the previous month, according to the NBS.

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The industrial output is used to measure the activity of designated large enterprises with an annual business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about US$2.89 million).

Fixed-asset investment up 5.8%

Fixed-asset investment went up 5.8 percent year on year in the first eight months of this year.

Fixed-asset investment from January to August totaled 36.71 trillion yuan (about US$5.3 trillion), the bureau said in a statement.

The growth quickened from a 5.7 percent increase posted in the first seven months.

From January to August, fixed-asset investment from the private sector increased 2.3 percent from a year earlier to 20.31 trillion yuan.

Retail sales up 5.4%

Retail sales of consumer goods went up 5.4 percent year on year in August.

The growth quickened from a 2.7 percent increase registered in July.

The country's retail sales of consumer goods totaled 3.63 trillion yuan (about US$523.2 billion) in August, according to the NBS.

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In the first eight months, China's total retail sales of consumer goods stood at 28.26 trillion yuan, up 0.5 percent year-on-year.

Urban unemployment rate down to 5.3%

Surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.3 percent in August, down from 5.4 percent in July, data from the NBS showed.

Surveyed urban unemployment rate stood at 5.3 percent in August, down from 5.4 percent in July, data from the NBS showed

In the first eight months of the year, a total of 8.98 million new urban jobs were created, NBS data showed.

The surveyed unemployment rate among those aged between 25 and 59, the majority of the labor market, stood at 4.3 percent in August, according to the data.

The surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities came in at 5.4 percent in August, down from 5.6 percent in July.

The surveyed urban unemployment rate is calculated based on the number of unemployed people who have participated in the employment survey in urban areas, including migrant workers in cities.

House price eased

The NBS data also showed that China's home prices in 70 large and medium-sized cities eased in August, with more cities seeing a decline in home prices.

In August, 50 out of the 70 cities saw a month-on-month drop in new home sales prices, up from 40 in July. A total of 56 cities witnessed a decrease in resale home prices, up from 51 from the previous month, data from the NBS showed.

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New home prices in four first-tier cities — Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou — edged up 0.1 percent month on month in August, tempered 0.2 percentage points from the previous month, according to the data.

New home prices in 31 second-tier cities decreased 0.2 percent month on month, while 35 third-tier cities saw a month-on-month decline of 0.4 percent, 0.1 percentage points greater than that in July.

Prices of resale homes in the four first-tier cities remained unchanged month on month in August. Second-tier and third-tier cities saw their prices of resale homes edge down 0.3 percent and 0.5 percent on a monthly basis, respectively, data showed.