PROFIT at China’s major industrial enterprises fell more steeply in August, extending the decline into a fifth straight month as earnings were dragged down by the continued slowdown in economic growth and rising labor costs.

    The continued deterioration in these large companies’ earnings raised concerns among some economists about how the weakening economy could raise unemployment.

    The combined profit of China’s major industrial companies fell 6.2 percent to 381.2 billion yuan in August from a year earlier, according to data issued by the National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday. That’s steeper than July’s 5.4 percent slide.

    For the eight months through August, profit fell by 3.1 percent from a year earlier to 3.06 trillion yuan (US$480 billion), picking up the pace from a 2.7 percent decline in the first seven months of the year.

    The data cover industrial companies with annual income on major businesses of at least 20 million yuan. The current standard was adopted from 2011 and is higher than the original threshold of 5 million yuan, the statistics bureau said in a statement.

    “The steeper decline in industrial profit will have a negative impact on the employment situation, and will also deepen the worries of market participants,” said Standard Chartered economist Shen Lan.

    “Industrial companies’ profits declined more significantly than overall economic growth,” said Citigroup economist Ding Shuang. (SD-Agencies)