BEIJING - China's manufacturing activity continued to expand in November as rising overseas demand for Chinese goods helped drive the rebound in the world's third-largest economy, a survey showed Tuesday.

The HSBC China Manufacturing PMI, or purchasing managers' index, rose to 55.7 in November from 55.4 in October, the survey showed.

A reading above 50 means the sector is expanding, while a reading below 50 indicates an overall decline.

"The sustained improvement ... implies that China's recovery has been consolidated," Qu Hongbin, chief economist for China at HSBC, said in a statement.

"Rising new orders and production, plus the rapid expansion of new export orders, have and will generate new jobs."

A separate official PMI published by the National Bureau of Statistics showed manufacturing activity was steady at 55.2 in November - the highest since May 2008.

The HSBC survey showed production rose for the eighth straight month in November while demand for Chinese exports increased at the fastest pace since March 2005.

The increase in activity led to job creation as staffing levels rose by the second-fastest rate since the survey began in April 2004, HSBC said.

Average input prices faced by manufacturers for brass, chemicals, coal, petroleum and steel rose sharply in November, the survey showed.

But strong competition meant factory owners did not pass on the higher costs in full to customers.

"Despite the increasing inflationary pressure on input prices, inflation in finished goods will be relatively mild given the still excessive capacity in many sectors," Qu said.

The HSBC PMI sank to a record low of 38.8 in November last year as the global financial crisis took hold, but improved continuously in the following months, moving above 50 in March, as the economy recovered.

China's economy expanded by 8.9 percent in the third quarter, up from 7.9 percent in the second quarter and 6.1 percent in the first three months, mainly as a result of massive government spending amid the global downturn.

Manufacturing accounted for more than 40 percent of economic output last year in China, which has been hit hard by evaporating demand for its products in key export markets such as the United States and Europe.

Many developed nations, which are only slowly emerging from recession, are looking to China and also India to act as engines of global growth.