BEIJING, March 4 (Xinhua) -- More than 22.35 million people across China were employed in WeChat-related jobs in 2018, according to a report released Monday.

The figure rose 10 percent from a year earlier or doubled that of 2014, said the report, which was jointly published by organizations including China Academy of Information and Communications Technology.

WeChat app is a multi-function messaging, social media and payment app created by China's IT giant Tencent. The WeChat ecosystem incorporates various products including WeChat Official Account, mini-programs and WeChat Pay, creating jobs concerning technology development, product operation, digital content and management control.

Mini-programs turned out to be a new engine to boost employment, the report noted. In 2018, more than 1 million mini-programs created 1.82 million jobs, surging 75 percent from a year earlier.

Monday's report also showed WeChat-driven information consumption exceeded 240.2 billion yuan (about 35.8 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018, accounting for 4.8 percent of China's total information consumption.

Traditional consumption boosted by WeChat also saw rapid growth last year, with an increase of 26 percent year on year to 419.8 billion yuan.