A view of JD.com's 7Fresh, a "new retail" supermarket that combines online and offline sales, in a shopping mall in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi Province on Sunday. The store, which opened on Sunday and also marked JD.com's first "new retail" supermarket in Northwest China, supports cutting-edge technology such as face-scanning payment. JD.com launched 7Fresh after its competitor Alibaba Group hit the market with Hema supermarket. Photo: IC

Led by a rise in consumption and services, China has reported a stable and steady economic performance in October, with its employment target reached ahead of schedule despite mounting downward pressure from domestic structural reforms and a sluggish global economy. 

In the first ten months of 2019, retail sales rose 8.1 percent to 33.48 trillion yuan ($4.77 trillion), while the index for services production rose by 7 percent, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday.

A total of 11.93 million people were newly employed in urban areas from January to October, achieving the annual target of 11 million well in advance of the deadline. Specifically, the urban unemployment rate dropped 0.1 percentage points from September to 5.1 percent. 

Fixed-asset investment soared 5.2 percent year-on-year to 51.09 trillion yuan. In particular, investment in basic infrastructure rose 4.2 percent, while investment in the manufacturing sector was up 2.6 percent and up 10.3 percent in the property sector.

At a press briefing of the State Council Information Office in Beijing on Thursday, NBS spokeswoman Liu Aihua, while recognizing downward pressure amid global economic slowdown, said that, "China has the foundation, the conditions and the confidence to achieve its full-year growth target and maintain stable economic growth." 

She pointed to the country's booming consumer market, driven by industrial upgrades, and dividends from its commitment to opening up. She also noted its policy tools to cut tax and administrative fees, which will "provide robust underpinning for its economy." 

China set its 2019 economic growth target at a range of 6 percent to 6.5 percent. 

The rise in services and retail shows a robust demand at home that will propel the Chinese economy, Cong Yi, a professor at the Tianjin University of Finance and Economics, told the Global Times on Thursday. He also noted that it will take time for government policies that aim to shift reliance on infrastructure and property investment to take effect.

It is estimated that China's annual economic growth will rise 6.1 percent for the full year, according to a report released by the National Institute for Finance and Development, a top think tank under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, on Wednesday.