Employment rose in many sectors in March, compared with the same month last year. Nevertheless, some falls were recorded in the manufacturing sector and for labourers at construction sites.

The Census & Statistics Department said vacancies in all sectors rose noticeably, partly due to the low base of comparison. In particular, dramatic increases were seen in hotels and boarding houses (604.5%), real estate (383.1%), the wholesale trade (151.3%), business services (108.5%) and the retail trade (108.2%).

For all selected major sectors taken together, the total number of vacancies in the private sector surged 78.7% to 28,400, from 15,900 in March last year. Of the 28,400 private sector vacancies, 6,350 were from the import/export trade, 5,220 from the community, social and personal services sector, 3,460 from the business services, and 2,900 from the financing and insurance services.

The import/export trade engaged 486,900 workers, followed by the community, social and personal services sector with 412,000, the retail trade with 214,600, and business services with 196,400.

For all the selected major sectors taken together, total employment rose 0.6% to 2,236,000 people.