[Explanation] On September 6, the State Council Information Office held a press conference on "stimulating market vitality, standardizing market order, and building a well-off society in an all-round way".

According to Zhang Gong, director of the State Administration for Market Regulation, as of the end of July this year, the total number of market entities in my country has increased from 55 million in 2012 to 146 million.

  [Concurrent] Zhang Gong, Director of the State Administration for Market Regulation

  As of the end of July this year, the market entities (total) of China (the country) have grown to 146 million, an increase of nearly 1.6 times over 2012, with an average annual net increase of more than 10 million; among them, the number of enterprises has increased from more than 13 million. The number of households has increased to 46 million, and the number of individual industrial and commercial households has increased from 40 million to 98 million; the overall activity of market entities has stabilized at around 70%.

In the first half of this year, 13.94 million new market entities nationwide were added.

  [Explanation] Zhang Gong said that the rapid development of various market entities has provided support for consolidating existing jobs and absorbing new jobs.

In recent years, the establishment of new market entities with small, medium and micro enterprises as the mainstay has supported an average of more than 13 million new jobs per year.

  [Concurrent] Zhang Gong, Director of the State Administration for Market Regulation

  Especially in recent years, the newly established market entities with small, medium and micro enterprises as the main body have particularly strong employment capacity and the characteristics of entrepreneurship-driven employment are obvious, which strongly supports the annual increase of more than 13 million new jobs.

Here I would like to emphasize two points in particular: First, more than 100 million various market entities across the country have absorbed and carried nearly 300 million migrant workers’ employment, which has greatly promoted the growth of farmers’ income, improved farmers’ lives, and effectively enhanced rural development and poverty alleviation. The inherent vitality of the city also effectively guarantees the supply of labor resources in the process of overall urban and rural development.

The second point I want to emphasize is that more than 98 million individual industrial and commercial households directly drive the employment of nearly 300 million urban and rural residents.

  [Explanation] Regarding food safety, Mr. Zhang said that the food safety situation has continued to improve in recent years.

The pass rate of bulk foods continues to remain high, with grain processed products and edible oil passing rates above 98%, and meat products above 97%.

  [Concurrent] Zhang Gong, Director of the State Administration for Market Regulation

  In recent years, the sense of corporate responsibility has increased significantly, the food safety situation has continued to improve, the supply of people’s tables has become more abundant, and safe consumption has been more guaranteed.

The pass rate of bulk foods continues to remain high, with grain processed products and edible oil passing rates above 98%, and meat products above 97%.

The market supervision department has established a four-level sampling inspection system. Last year (2020), a total of 6.95 million batches of random inspections were completed, reaching 4.9 batches per thousand people, which was 2.2 times the end of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period.

Timely release information on substandard food to remind the public of safe consumption; 3,596 tons of substandard food were removed from shelves, sealed, and recalled to prevent problematic food from flowing to the people's table, and the food safety "protection net" was continuously encrypted and strengthened.

  Dong Zeyu reports from Beijing

Editor in charge: 【Luo Pan】