China's beauty industry, which employs more than 16 million of the country's labor force, has reported an annual growth of 6 percent in the number of its beauty parlors, an industry report released on Tuesday says.

According to a survey conducted by the Cosmetology Chamber of the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, there were approximately 1.54 million beauty parlors in 2003, and the number has been growing by 6 percent annually.

Of the existing beauty clinics and hairdressing shops, about 51percent were opened in the past five years, the report says.

The beauty industry in China has been described as a youthful business not only because it is relatively novel to the increasingly prosperous Chinese, but also because most of its jobs are occupied by young women. The average age of beauty industry workers is 25 years and nearly 80 percent are women, whose average salary stands at 1,050 yuan per month (around 127 US dollars).

The beauty industry has been a major boost to domestic cosmetics manufacturers and media and training firms related to the industry, which together provide a total of 500,000 jobs in China.

According to 2004 statistics, of all the beauty parlors, 53 percent made profits, 39 percent broke even and less than 9 percent lost money.

General technological levels in the industry are still low, compared with international standards, the report says. The Chinse beauty industry also has lower prices. Beauty services cost 118.31yuan (14 US dollars) on average, about one-seventh of price in western countries.