The overall Comprehensive Social Security Assistance caseload dropped to 216,933 in December last year, down 0.3% from November, the Social Welfare Department announced today.

The total number of recipients stood at 306,377.

Low-earnings cases registered a month-to-month decrease of 1.1% to 2,217. Single parent cases dropped 0.7% to 23,785, while old age cases dipped 0.3% to 124,104.

Unemployment cases decreased 0.9% to 18,495 compared with November 2021, although it represents an increase of about 46.9% compared with January 2020 when Hong Kong just started to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The average number of applications for unemployment cases in October to December last year was 469 per month, representing a drop of 7.7% from the September to November figure.

Ill-health cases slightly increased by 0.1% to 26,887, while the number of permanent disability cases remained steady at 17,518.