One important qualification to these numbers is that China's labour-force participation rate ie, those in work or seeking it fell to 65% in 2005 from 69% in 2000.
Some of this is due to an ageing population and some to a rising share of that population in the labourforce: the so-called participationrate has jumped a percentage point, to 40%, while slipping for the population as a whole.
The participationrate, the share of the labourforce either working or looking for work, has declined steadily since 2007, though it ticked up ever so slightly in September, to 63.6% (see chart).