China News Service, September 15. On September 15, the State Council Information Office held a press conference on the operation of the national economy in August 2026. Fu Linghui, spokesperson of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that judging from the main indicators in August, the economic operation mainly showed the characteristics of "three stable and two fast". "Three Stabilities" are reflected in stable production, stable employment, and stable prices.
The first is stable production. Affected by geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East, the international crude oil market continues to fluctuate, and the supply of some important raw materials is tight. As a major global energy importer and manufacturing country, my country faces greater pressure to ensure the stability of energy supply and enterprise production. my country has actively increased efforts to ensure domestic energy supply and promoted diversified imports. In addition, my country's energy green transformation has achieved remarkable results in recent years, effectively ensuring domestic energy supply and supporting the stability of production. In August, the value added of industries above designated size and the service industry production index increased by 5.2% and 4.1% respectively, remaining generally stable.
The second is stable employment. Stable production has laid a good foundation for stable employment. The steady growth of enterprise production is conducive to stabilizing employment demand. At the same time, the service industry has a relatively large employment capacity, and emerging service industries such as information services and information software services are developing rapidly, making important contributions to stable employment. In August, the national urban surveyed unemployment rate was 5.3%, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, mainly due to the seasonal impact of newly graduated students entering the labor market. The urban surveyed unemployment rate for the main employment group, that is, the main group of labor force aged 30-59, is 3.9%, which is the same as last month and the same period last year, maintaining overall stability. From an industry perspective, although employment in some industries has decreased year-on-year due to structural adjustment factors, employment in my country's manufacturing industry is generally stable, and employment in the information transmission software and information technology services industries has increased significantly. Driven by the development of domestic culture, tourism and leisure, employment in the accommodation and catering industry continues to expand, playing an important role in employment stability.
The third is price stability. Stable production also creates favorable conditions for stable prices. International geopolitical conflicts have intensified the volatility of global commodity markets and impacted the price stability of major countries around the world. Since the beginning of this year, inflation levels in major developed economies have increased significantly. Judging from our country's situation, in the face of such pressure and challenges, our country has actively increased efforts to ensure market supply, strengthened the production of people's livelihood commodities, effectively guaranteed market supply, and promoted price stability. In August, consumer prices rose by 0.8% year-on-year, and industrial producer prices rose by 3.8%, which is at a relatively stable level by international comparison.
The “two expresses” refer to emerging industry expresses and import and export expresses. First, emerging industries are growing rapidly. With the integrated development of technological innovation and industrial innovation, the deepening of green transformation, and the acceleration of global artificial intelligence development and energy transformation, my country's emerging industries represented by high-tech manufacturing, digital manufacturing, and information technology services have developed rapidly, making important contributions to accelerating the conversion of old and new driving forces and improving the quality of development. In August, the added value of high-tech manufacturing and digital product manufacturing above designated size increased by 16.7% and 15.7% respectively year-on-year. New driving forces contributed more than 60% to the growth of industrial growth above designated size and continue to increase. The information transmission, software and information technology service industry production index increased by 9.6%, and contributed more than 20% to the service industry production index growth.
Second, import and export are growing rapidly. Relying on a complete industrial system, continuously improving technical capabilities and product quality, we insist on expanding economic and trade exchanges with countries around the world on the basis of mutual benefit and win-win results, actively expand imports, and promote the balanced development of foreign trade. my country's import and export of goods have maintained rapid growth. In August, the total import and export of goods increased by 19.8% year-on-year. From the perspective of exports, my country's exports of green products such as new energy vehicles and lithium batteries have grown rapidly, which has effectively promoted the development of global green transformation. From the perspective of imports, my country's imports from developing countries such as ASEAN, Africa, and Latin America have increased significantly, providing new opportunities for the industrial development of developing countries.
Taken together, despite the turbulent external environment and many unstable and uncertain factors, my country's economy has overcome difficulties and maintained stable operation. New driving forces have accumulated and grown, showing strong resilience and vitality, and becoming an important growth pole and source of stability for global development. In the next stage, in the face of the complex international environment and the pressure of domestic transformation and adjustment, we must follow the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, strengthen countercyclical adjustments, expand domestic demand, optimize supply, deepen reform and opening up, increase momentum and activate power, and promote the economy to continue to develop in a new and better direction.
