In 2011, township enterprises strove for shift in development model with a faster pace and maintained steady development, strongly promoting the development of the secondary and tertiary industries and making important contributions to the growth of the national economy and increases in farmers5 earnings.

1. Promoting the development of national economy Added value realized by township enterprises in 2011 accounted for 28.2% of the country's GDP, the same level with the previous year.

2. Providing employment for rural laborers Township enterprises employed 161.86 million people in 2011, an increase of 2.93 million compared to the previous year. Employment by township enterprises accounted for 21.2% of China's total workforce, 1.1 percentage points higher than the previous year.

Of the total workforce of township enterprises, 159.85 million people worked in the secondary and tertiary industries, 2.73 million more than in the previous year. The figure was 32.1% of the total workforce in the secondary and tertiary industries, half a percentage point lower than the previous year.

3. Boosting farmers' income Wages remained an important source of income for farmers in 2011. The development of nonagriculture sectors made important contributions to growth in farmers' earnings. Farmers' per capita earnings from household production in non-agriculture sectors averaged 702 yuan, up 100 yuan or 16.6% from the previous year. Their average per capita earnings in wages stood at 2,963 yuan, up 532 yuan or 21.9%, agrowth rate 4 percentage points higher than the previous year.

Of farmers 5 average per capita net earnings in 2011, 37.1% came from household production in the primary industry, a drop of 0.6 percentage points, while 52.5% came from wages and nonagriculture household production, 1.3 percentage points higher than the previous year.