China's service industry had annually employed 6.97 million people on average since 1978, said Vice Minister of Commerce Zhang Zhigang on Tuesday.
  
During a service industry conference which opened on Tuesday, Zhang said that the sector has become the country's main job creator. The number of people working in the industry has grown from 48.9 million in 1978 to 230.11 million, a net increase of 181.21 million.
 
According to Zhang, the catering industry employs more than 20 million people, and the household service industry absorbs 15 million people.
 
With the country's fast growth of economy, the sales volume of catering industry is expected to climb to 2 trillion yuan (US$246.6 billion) by the year 2010, a rise of 17 percent annually, and the business turnover of the beauty and hairdressing industry will amount to 600 billion yuan (US$73.9 billion), also an annual increase of 17 percent, while the hotel industry will see a 10 percent growth each year. 

(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2005)