HANGZHOU, Feb. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- The per-capita disposable income of urbanites in East China's Zhejiang Province reached 16,294 yuan (2,009 U.S. dollars) last year, a year-on-year increment of 12 percent.

    Allowing for price rises, the real-term growth was 10.4 percent, said the provincial bureau of statistics.

    Last year, the per-capita pure income of rural residents in Zhejiang stood at 6,660 yuan, up 9.3 percent year-on-year.

    The growth rate was revised to 6.4 percent after deducting price factors, the bureau said.

    Residents in both urban and rural areas had their combined outstanding savings deposits reach 912.3 billion yuan (112.5 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of last year, up 17.8 percent from the year-earlier level.

    In a related development, the per-capita living space increased by 2.2 square meters to 26.1 square meters for urban citizens in Zhejiang and rose 3.7 square meters to 55 square meters for rural dwellers.

    Social welfare covers more people

    Zhejiang Province created 670,000 jobs last year, exceeding the annual projection of 520,000, said the local bureau of statistics.

    The province also helped 350,000 laid-off workers find new jobslast year, the bureau added.

    The move helped decrease Zhejiang's unemployment rate by 0.38 percentage points from the beginning of 2005 to 3.72 percent at the end of the year.

    According to the statistical bureau, pensions had covered 6.47 million workers with enterprises in the province at the end of last year, while medical insurance covered 6.32 million people, an increment of 460,000 people and 630,000 people respectively from the end of the previous year.

    Energy consumption reduces    

    Zhejiang Province managed to reduce its energy consumption last year.

    The bureau said in 2005 Zhejiang's energy consumption for every 10,000 yuan of GDP stood at an equivalent to 0.78 tons of standard coal, 1.3 percent less than the previous year.

    Major energy-gobbling enterprises had their energy consumption per 10,000 yuan of gross industrial output reduce 9.7 percent from 0.5 tons to 0.45 tons of standard coal.

    Reduction of energy consumption has become one of the greatest concerns of the Chinese government. In the coming 15 years, the country plans to decrease energy consumption per GDP unit by 20 percent from the current level of 2.6 tons of standard coal.

    In a related development, financial input in scientific and technological research made up 2.3 percent of Zhejiang's GDP last year, up two percentage points from the year-earlier level of 2.1 percent, the local statistical bureau said.

    Major industrial enterprises each with an annual sales volume of more than five million yuan (616,522 U.S. dollars) spent 14.5 billion yuan (1.8 billion U.S. dollar) on research and development and 1.19 billion yuan (146.7 million U.S. dollars) buying tech results, up 43.3 percent and 23.5 percent respectively.

    Consumer goods market brisk    

    The booming Zhejiang Province recorded 463.2 billion yuan (57.1 billion U.S. dollars) in retail sales last year, a growth of 14.2 percent year-on-year.

    Allowing for price rises, the real-term growth was 13.2 percent, up 0.7 percentage points from the previous-year level, said the provincial statistical bureau.

    Retail sales of food, garments, daily necessities and sports and recreational articles went up 19.7 percent, 23.9 percent, 17.5 percent and 28.5 percent respectively.

    Last year urbanites in Zhejiang spent 12,254 yuan per capita onconsumer goods, while rural dwellers spent 5,215 yuan per capita for the same purpose, up 15.2 percent and 11.9 percent respectively.

    The bureau said the growth rates would be revised to 13.5 percent and 10.2 percent respectively allowing for price rises.

    In a related development, Zhejiang's consumer price index, or CPI, went up 1.3 percent last year, yet the growth rate was 2.6 percentage points lower than the year-earlier level. Enditem