The contribution of high value-added industries such as biotech to China’s total economic inputs dipped in May due to a decline in capital inputs from the previous month, a Caixin index showed.
The Mastercard Caixin BBD New Economy Index (NEI) came in at 28.5 in May, indicating that new economy industries accounted for 28.5% of China’s overall economic input activities. The reading was down from 28.8 in April.
The NEI uses big data to track the size of China’s nascent industries. It measures labor, capital and technology inputs in 10 emerging industries relative to those used in all industries.
The drop was due to the decrease in the capital input subindex. The subindex, which has a 35% weighting, sank 2.2 points from the previous month to 33.7 in May.
Meanwhile, the technology input subindex, which has a 25% weighting, remained unchanged from the previous month at 28.3. It gauges the number of research personnel recruited by the tracked industries, the number of inventions they have created and the number of patents they have obtained.
The subindex for labor inputs, which has a weighting of 40%, rose 1.2 points to 24 last month.
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 May, contributing 9.4 percentage points to the NEI reading. The biotech industry ranked second, contributing 4.1 percentage points.
The average monthly entry-level salary in the 10 industries, based on data compiled from online career and recruitment websites, was 13,550 yuan ($2,030) in May, 218 yuan lower than the previous month.
The 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 Tang Ziyi (ziyitang@caixin.com) and editor Lin Jinbing (jinbinglin@caixin.com)
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