May. 20, 2013 (China Knowledge) - Chinese companies received US$11.7 billion of service outsourcing orders in the first quarter of this year, 43.6% more than in  the same period of last year, said an official with the Ministry of Commerce on Saturday.

The contract value of offshore service outsourcing jumped 42.0% YoY to US$8.14 billion in the period.

As of the end of March, there are about 4.47 million employees in the service outsourcing industry in China.

In 2012, the country's offshore service outsourcing orders rose from only US$4.69 billion in 2008 to US$33.6 million, accounting for 27.7% of the word's total. China has become the second-largest service outsourcing recipient country in the world.