On way to achieving targeted growth rate

China's economy remains on a solid footing, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, which released the macroeconomic data for April on Monday. However, some indicators show China may face downward pressure in the second half of this year.

Industrial output in April grew 6.5 percent year-on-year. Although it was lower than the 7.6 percent growth in March, it was higher compared with the figures for most of the months last year (the highest monthly growth last year was 6.8 percent, in March 2016), indicating the economy is still edging up.

The job market remained stable, with the surveyed unemployment rate in 31 major cities being below 5 percent in recent months. And in the first four months of this year, China created 4.65 million jobs, 220,000 more than the same period last year.