The UK's links with China support up to 138,000 jobs in Britain, according to new research data.

The study looked at four areas – trade, investment, tourism and education – to calculate the value of the bilateral relationship to the UK side. It was conducted by Cambridge Econometrics and commissioned by the China Britain Business Council.

Trade was the biggest contributor, accounting for between 90,000 and 115,000 jobs. The UK exports $25 billion of goods and $5 billion of services to China annually. But China also accounts for a quarter of all foreign students in the UK, worth $2 billion to the economy and creating up to 18,000 jobs. Tourists from China supported 16,000 jobs, according to the research. 

Some of the jobs in the different sectors may overlap, so the authors adjusted the overall total to account for this, but they pointed out that the total did not include indirect jobs – those that support the roles directly created through the relationship with China. A further 9,000 jobs could be attributed to Chinese investment in Britain but the report's authors said they could not calculate those numbers with full confidence and so had not included them.

In addition to tourism and education, transport equipment, mining, architecture, engineering and business support services are the sectors that benefit the most.