Despite anemic global trade and investment growth momentum last year, combined contracts of China’s service outsourcing industry surpassed 1 trillion yuan (about $145 billion) for the first time.

Chinese businesses inked service outsourcing contracts worth 1.02 trillion yuan in 2016, up 20.1 percent from 2015, the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said on March 15.

Deals were supported by technology-intensive sectors such as cloud computing, big data, Internet of things and mobile Internet.

China is the world’s second largest service outsourcing provider, accounting for 33 percent of the global market, said the MOC.

China deems service outsourcing a “green industry” and a new engine for tertiary industry.

Service outsourcing created 1.21 million new jobs last year in China, with a total of 8.6 million people employed in the industry.