Individual industrial and commercial proprietors are more concentrated in commerce and trade, privately-run enterprises in manufacturing

Among the individual industrial and commercial proprietors, 60.7 per cent or 14.76 million were engaged in wholesaling, retailing , food services and social services. Manufacturing proprietors accounted for only 12.8 per cent (3.12 million) of the total. 11.3 per cent or 2.74 million were in the communications and transport businesses, while 2.38 million of them (9.8 per cent) operate in warehousing and storage businesses.

There were 685,000 privately-run enterprises in the manufacturing sector in 2001, accounting for 33.8 per cent of the total. They employed 12.21 million workers, representing 44.9 per cent of the total workforce in all privately-run enterprises. The registered capital of enterprises in the manufacturing sector was 500.09 billion renminbi, amounting to 27.5 per cent of the total registered capital. In the trade and food services sectors, there were 822,000 privately-run enterprises, which was 40.5 per cent of the total. They employed 8.76 million people, accounting for 32.3 per cent of the total jobs in all privately-run enterprises, and their registered capital was 645.92 billion renminbi, representing 35.5 per cent of the total registered capital of all privately-run enterprises.