“Recovery” is the key word for China’s economy since the second quarter.

The latest economic data of May released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBS) on June 15 show that the major indicators of China’s economy indicate improvement.

Industrial growth gained momentum this May. Added value of industrial enterprises above designated size had increased 4.4% year-onyear, a 0.5 percentage point growth on the month before. What’s more, the figures have been on the rise for two months consecutively.

The service industry is on its way to recovery. The index for service production in May rose 1% year-on-year, though the figure for April was a 4.5% drop.

The report also indicates improvements in consumption. This May, as shopping malls and restaurants have begun to attract more customers, Chinese people felt the market warming up again. The total retail sales of consumer goods had a year-on-year drop of 4.7 percentage points this May. And the retail turnover in May only dropped 0.8 percentage points year-on-year, which was very close to the outcome of the same period last year.

According to the recent statistics revealed by the Ministry of Commerce, in May the sales volume of passenger cars in China had realized its first positive growth in 11 months.

“Despite the improvements, many major indicators in May are below last year’s figures. This shows that the damages caused by the pandemic still stand to be repaired, and the economy has not yet returned to its normal state,” said Fu Linghui, spokesperson for the NBS.

As external challenges have increased, China’s economic recovery faces formidable hurdles. For instance, the shortage of export orders is greatly affecting industrial production.

Another hurdle is employment pressure. Although China’s urban unemployment rate in May dropped 0.1 percentage points compared to April, 1.2% of employees are still on furlough, which is higher than the normal level. Meanwhile, the number of graduates from colleges and universities has hit a new high reaching 8.74 million this year.

This article was edited and translated from Xinhua Net.