A record-high of 1,800 private sector vacancies were offered each working day in August, up 12.5% on the daily average of 1,600 in the first half of the year.

Speaking at the Chinese Manufacturers' Association dinner reception today, Permanent Secretary for Economic Development & Labour Matthew Cheung said overall labour market sentiment remains buoyant.

Hong Kong's workforce has grown with total employment reaching an historic high of 3.37 million. With the economic recovery, new jobs have been created to absorb labour force growth. In the first seven months of the year, the Labour Department placed 60,000 people in work.

The latest forecast estimates the labour force will grow substantially from 3.55 million in 2004 to 3.77 million in 2014.

Employment a long-term challenge

"Hong Kong needs to create some 200,000 new jobs in the next 10 years to absorb this increase in the workforce. Tackling the employment problem will therefore be a long-term challenge," Mr Cheung said.

Apart from job creation, the challenge facing the labour market is the problem of structural unemployment brought by economic restructuring, globalisation, wider application of information technology and corporate downsizing.

Presently, people aged 40 or above and with relatively low educational attainment and skill levels are facing the greatest risk of unemployment.

Although the number of jobless middle-aged people has dropped from an all-time high of 140,000 to about 100,000, it still constitutes half the total unemployed population. The jobless rate of people with lower academic qualification is 8.5%, higher than those with tertiary education and degrees by 4.1 and 4.9 percentage points. The jobless rate for low-skilled workers stands at 6.6%.

Multi-pronged approach

Mr Cheung said a multi-pronged and robust approach has been adopted to meet the challenges by improving the business environment, promoting the development of tourism, logistics, producer services and financial services, and enhancing the skills of workforce.

A number of employment programmes are also being run to help job-seekers with different needs and from various strata.

On the employment outlook, Mr Cheung said in the near term it hinges on whether robust economic growth can be sustained and the ability of local enterprises to create jobs.

"However, because of seasonal factors, the unemployment rate will fluctuate and face pressure to reverse its downward trend as fresh graduates and school leavers join the labour market in these few months. But overall speaking, since our economic fundamentals remain strong, we are cautiously optimistic about the employment outlook," he said.

Hong Kong Disneyland, which opens next month, will boost in-bound tourism, local consumption and the demand in the hotel, retail and catering industries.