Steady development of China's township enterprises is playing a role in raising employment in the country's rural areas with new employment of about 4 million people forecast for the whole of 2007.

The new employment will bring the total employees in township enterprises to 150 million by the end of the year, according to the Ministry of Agriculture,

China's township enterprises realized 4.9 trillion yuan (US$0.65 trillion) in added value in the first nine months of this year, up 13.45 percent from the same period last year, the ministry said.

The ministry attributed the surge largely to such industries like countryside tourism and tourism-related services which have boomed in rural areas in recent years.

Township enterprises are involved in many sectors, such as produce processing, construction and catering, among others.

Last year, township enterprises realized a total turnover of 24.68 trillion yuan, up 90.2 percent from 2002. They employed 146.8 million people, 30.5 percent of the rural labor force.

(Xinhua News Agency October 17, 2007)