BEIJING - China's value-added industrial output expanded 5.7 percent year-on-year in July, official data showed on Friday.

The growth slowed from a 6.8 percent rise in June, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics.

In the first seven months of this year, China's industrial output increased by 6.3 percent compared to the same period last year.

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The industrial output is used to measure the activity of large enterprises, each with an annual main business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about $2.8 million).

A breakdown of the data showed that the manufacturing sector's value-added output increased by 6.2 percent year-on-year in July, while that of mining grew by 5 percent. The value-added output of the electricity, heat, gas, water production and supply sector rose by 3.3 percent.

The production of new energy vehicles, integrated circuits, and industrial robots surged 32.9 percent, 10.4 percent and 32.9 percent year-on-year from January to July, respectively.

Friday's data also showed that the country's retail sales of consumer goods, a significant indicator of the country's consumption strength, expanded 4.8 percent year-on-year in the first seven months, while fixed-asset investment rose 1.6 percent.

Consumer spending 

China's consumer spending in the first seven months of this year expanded at a solid pace, with retail sales of consumer goods growing 4.8 percent year-on-year, official data showed Friday.

In July alone, retail sales of consumer goods rose 3.7 percent from a year earlier to nearly 3.88 trillion yuan (about $543.6 billion), according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The consumer goods trade-in program continued to drive growth. Among major retailers, sales of household appliances and audio-visual equipment surged 28.7 percent year-on-year, while furniture rose 20.6 percent, the data showed.

Online retail sales remained a bright spot, climbing 9.2 percent year-on-year in the first seven months. Sales of physical goods online increased 6.3 percent, making up nearly a quarter of total retail sales.

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Service consumption also showed stable growth, with retail sales in the sector rising 5.2 percent year-on-year in the Jan.-July period. Retail sales of travel consulting and rental services, transportation services, and cultural, sports and leisure services all posted double-digit growth, NBS spokesperson Fu Linghui told a press conference.

Policy measures have sustained the expansion of consumption and fostered new growth drivers, Fu said, while warning that uncertainties abroad and constraints on domestic consumption capacity still pose challenges.

Looking ahead, efforts will be made to further implement targeted initiatives to boost consumption, cultivate new growth drivers in services, improve the consumption environment, and promote the stable development of the consumer market, Fu noted.

Job market 

China's job market remained generally stable in July, with the surveyed urban unemployment rate standing at 5.2 percent, up 0.2 percentage points from the previous month, according to official data released on Friday.

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In the first seven months of this year, the surveyed urban unemployment rate was 5.2 percent on average, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

"Influenced by factors including the graduation season, China's surveyed urban unemployment rate saw a seasonal increase," Fu Linghui, NBS spokesperson, told a press conference.

Employment among key groups remained generally stable. In July, the unemployment rate for rural migrant workers stood at 4.9 percent, below the national average urban unemployment rate, Fu added.

China has set a target for a surveyed urban unemployment rate of around 5.5 percent in 2025 and aims to create over 12 million new urban jobs within the year.

Home price

The decline in the prices of commercial residential homes in China's 70 large and medium-sized cities continued to narrow on a year-on-year basis in July, official data showed on Friday.

Fixed-asset investment 

China's fixed-asset investment scaled up in the first seven months of 2025, with fast-growing capital flowing into manufacturing, according to data released Friday by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Total investment rose 1.6 percent year-on-year to over 28.82 trillion yuan (about $4.04 trillion) during the period, the NBS said.

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Specifically, investment in the manufacturing sector increased 6.2 percent year-on-year, while investment in infrastructure construction grew by 3.2 percent, according to NBS data.

Investment in high-tech industries registered sharp increases. Investment in aviation, space vehicles and equipment manufacturing, information services, and computer and office device manufacturing grew by 33.9 percent, 32.8 percent and 16 percent year-on-year, respectively.

Excluding the real estate, fixed-asset investment increased 5.3 percent year-on-year during the January-July period. Meanwhile, investment in property development fell by 12 percent.

Private investment fell 1.5 percent during the period. Stripping out real estate, private-sector investment showed a 3.9 percent gain.