China's employees in the construction industry totaled 32.53 million by the end of 2004, shows the results of the country's first national economic census released here Wednesday.

Among the total, 27.914 million people are working in the 128,000 corporate bodies in the construction industry, said the census bulletin released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The rest 4.616 million people are working for 565,000 private runners in the construction industry, said the census.

The census showed that among the 128,000 corporate bodies, state-owned entities stood at 9,500, only 7.4 percent of the total; collective entities shared 11.6 percent for 14,900.

Private-owned corporate bodies accounted the most of 52.2 percent, totaling 66,900, while the part of overseas invested entities stood at 1,600, about 1.2 percent of the total.

The census said 44.3 percent corporate bodies are in the house and civil engineering sector, and 12.9 percent in the building sector, 29.3 percent in the decoration sector.

According to the census, the state-owned entities employed 17.4 percent of the 27.914 million staff, and that of collective entities 12.9 percent, the private entities 26 percent.

The result of the census was jointly published by the Leading Group of First National Economic Census of the State Council and the NBS.

The first-ever national economic census, which formally began on Dec. 31, 2004, was designed to draw an economic panorama of the country's fast-expanding secondary and tertiary industries and complete a database covering all economic sectors.

The census was also expected to help policy-makers and experts to have a better understanding of the overall situation of the two sectors so as to help policy-makers to draft the country's economic and social development program during 2006-2010 and formulate macro-regulation policies and industrial readjustment and restructuring.

Source: Xinhua