BEIJING — China posted steady growth in the number of people working overseas in the first three quarters, official data showed.

From January to September, the country has sent 356,000 people to work overseas, an increase of 1,000 from the same period of last year, the Ministry of Commerce said in a report.

During the nine-month period, Chinese enterprises have dispatched 159,000 people abroad under foreign contracted projects, and 197,000 were sent through cross-border workforce cooperation.

By the end of September, a total of 1.01 million Chinese are working abroad, up by 14,000 from a year earlier, data showed.

China posted stable growth in outbound investment in the Jan-Sept period, as the number of newly signed overseas projects with a contract value of over $50 million rose by 11 to 528.