More than 22m people employed in WeChat-related jobs in China: report

BEIJING - More than 22.35 million people across China were employed in WeChat-related jobs in 2018, according to a report released Monday.

The figure rose 10 percent from a year earlier or doubled that of 2014, said the report, which was jointly published by organizations including China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

WeChat app is a multi-function messaging, social media and payment app created by China's IT giant Tencent. The WeChat ecosystem incorporates various products including WeChat Official Account, mini-programs and WeChat Pay, creating jobs concerning technology development, product operation, digital content and management control.

Mini-programs turned out to be a new engine to boost employment, the report noted. In 2018, more than 1 million mini-programs created 1.82 million jobs, surging 75 percent from a year earlier.

Monday's report also showed WeChat-driven information consumption exceeded 240.2 billion yuan ($35.8 billion) in 2018, accounting for 4.8 percent of China's total information consumption.

Traditional consumption boosted by WeChat also saw rapid growth last year, with an increase of 26 percent year-on-year to 419.8 billion yuan.