Editor's Note: The writer is a freelance columnist on international affairs based in Karachi, Pakistan. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily the views of China Economic Net.

China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Securityreported 10.52 million new urban jobs for the first nine months of the year, close to 88 percent of the annual target of 12 million. Alongside that figure, Vice Minister Li Zhong said the ministry is preparing a policy document to promote employment through services development, so that services can serve as the main channel for absorbing workers.

China’s GDP grew 4.5 percent in the third quarter and 4.6 percent over the first nine months. Within that, the sector breakdown shows services expanding 5.2 percent, ahead of the 3.8 percent recorded by industry and construction. In the first half of the year, services supplied 66.1 percent of growth, according to the National Development and Reform Commission. China’s high-tech factories continue to drive output and exports. Services are increasingly where the hiring happens.

The two trends fit together. China produced 29.1 percent more industrial robots in the first three quarters, and modern plants raise output per worker as they automate. Hotels, design studios, logistics firms and software houses grow by adding people. A ministry planning for steady employment has good reason to look at both.

Three developments are expanding the services side, and each is visible in this autumn’s data.

First, households are spending more on experiences. Retail sales of services rose 5 percent in nine months, well ahead of the 1 percent recorded for goods. The National Day holiday filled in the picture: 826 million domestic trips and 738.4 billion yuan in tourism spending, both higher on a daily basis than last year, with 125 concerts and 55 music festivals held during the week. Spending of this kind tends to repeat, because a family that enjoyed one trip plans the next.

Second, foreign visitors are arriving in larger numbers. From January to August, visa-free entries reached 23.72 million, up 26.8 percent, and accounted for 77.6 percent of all foreign arrivals. Inbound visits during the National Day week rose 6.5 percent on a daily-average basis. When a visitor from Europe or the Gulf pays for a hotel in Chengdu or a train ticket to Xi’an, the national accounts record it as a services export, and the people who host that visitor are employed by it.

Third, China is selling more services to the world. In the first eight months, services exports rose 14.8 percent to 2 trillion yuan, while imports grew 3.8 percent, narrowing the services deficit by 145.12 billion yuan. Exports of personal, cultural and recreational services increased 66 percent, which the Ministry of Commerce’s trade research academy links to video games and micro-dramas reaching overseas audiences. In the first half, knowledge-intensive services made up 53.5 percent of all services exports. Audiences abroad who already own Chinese-made devices are now also paying for Chinese content and expertise.

The fastest-growing service industries are also those that employ graduates. Leasing and business services expanded 12.3 percent in nine months, and information transmission, software and IT services grew 10.4 percent, both at roughly twice the services average or more. Consulting, accounting, software engineering, design and data analysis offer the kind of positions that match a university education, while tourism, catering and logistics continue to add front-line roles.

Policy has been moving in the same direction since spring. After an April State Council guideline on expanding the capacity and quality of services, the NDRC and 40 other departments identified 131 key tasks for 2026 and 2027. Financing has followed. Medium and long-term loans to the services sector reached 76.22 trillion yuan at the end of June, according to the People’s Bank of China, growing 1.3 percentage points faster than overall lending.

Consistency is one of the sector’s strengths. Services growth has held at 5.1 or 5.2 percent in every quarter of 2026, and the services production index rose 4.8 percent in September, faster than in August. For employers, that steadiness matters. Hotels hire against next year’s bookings, and software firms against contracts that run for several years. A predictable growth path gives both the confidence to keep recruiting.