A consumer buys drinks at a supermarket in Haizhou District of Lianyungang, East China's Jiangsu province, on Aug 10, 2020. (Photo: Xinhua)

China's economy continued to recover steadily in Oct, with market demand rebounding and employment situation improving, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Monday.

Retail sales grew by 4.3 percent in Oct on a yearly basis, up from 3.3 percent in the previous month, the NBS said.

Industrial output rose by 6.9 percent year-on-year last month, the same as Sept.

Fixed-asset investment in the first 10 months rose by 1.8 percent, up from 0.8 percent in the Jan-Sept period.

The urban surveyed jobless rate dropped to 5.3 percent in Oct from 5.4 percent in Sept.

Despite the improvements, the NBS said "multiple challenges" remained for the Chinese economy, citing the sluggish world economic and trade recovery amid the global spread of the COVID-19.