From January to July, Xiamen companies undertook actual service outsourcing amounting to 19.35 billion yuan ($2.82 billion), an increase of 46.8 percent year-on-year, which was 33.7 percentage points higher than the national average.

The contracted service outsourcing amounted to 36.05 billion yuan during the same period, up 23.4 percent year-on-year.

Of which, the actual offshore service outsourcing amounted to 10.85 billion yuan, up 29.6 percent year-on-year, which was 18.8 percentage points higher than the national average.

Three major businesses achieved rapid growth. The actual offshore service outsourcing in information technology outsourcing, business process outsourcing, and knowledge process outsourcing grew 21.4 percent, 44.2 percent, and 8.7 percent, respectively, during the same period.

In the first seven months, the actual offshore service outsourcing undertaken by Xiamen companies from the United States, the European Union, and Hong Kong saw an increase of 17.5 percent, 93.4 percent, and 16.8 percent, respectively, and accounted for 75.1 percent of the city’s total actual offshore service outsourcing.

In addition, domestically invested companies played a leading role in undertaking offshore service outsourcing from January to July, posting an increase of 66.7 percent year-on-year.

As of the end of July, the service outsourcing industry had employed a total of 230,000 people, and 58.3 percent of which have a university degree or above.

A bird's-eye view of Xiamen, Fujian province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]