BEIJING -- The income of China's urban and rural residents continued to increase in the first nine months this year, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed Tuesday.

In the past three quarters, urban and rural residents' per-capita disposable income reached 16,301 yuan ($2,557), up 13.7 percent year-on-year. After deducting inflation, actual growth was 7.8 percent, said NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyun.

The growth of per-capita cash income of rural residents hit 20.7 percent to reach 5,875 yuan. The actual growth after factoring in price adjustments was 13.6 percent, Sheng said.

Sheng attributed the income growth to the country's stable economic development and better-than-expected employment figures.

By the end of September, the number of employees in urban and rural areas increased by 5.55 million compared to the same period of last year. Meanwhile, the number of rural employees working outside of their hometowns hit 164 million, 6.06 million more than last year, Sheng said.

The country's economy expanded by 9.1 percent in the third quarter of this year, slowing from the 9.5 percent posted in the second quarter and 9.7 percent in the first quarter.