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| Easing off: The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has fallen to a four-year low of 5.5%. |
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The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has fallen to a four-year low of 5.5% in the July-September period, from 5.7% in June-August.
The underemployment rate dipped 0.1% to 2.6%. Total employment grew by by 4,300 to an all-time high of 3.39 million, with the total labour force falling from 3,601,400 to 3.596 million. The number of unemployed dropped by 9,700 to 206,000 while the number of underemployed fell by 2,000 to 95,000.
A drop in unemployment was seen in the construction, sanitary services, amusement and recreational services, and communications sectors, while underemployment rate falls were mainly seen in the amusement and recreational services, and wholesale trade sectors.
Employment expansion
The Census & Statistics Department said the four-year low came under the combined influence of an expansion in employment and a contraction in labour supply.
The reduced labour force was partly attributable to the return of many summertime workers to schools for the new academic year, while total employment grew on the back of sustained economic growth.
Looking ahead, it said labour demand is likely to grow along with the sustained pick-up in Hong Kong's overall economic activity, which will have a positive effect on the employment situation in the coming months.
Record vacancies
In September the Labour Department received a record 1,900 private sector vacancies per working day on average. In the first nine months of this year, the department received 318,596 private sector vacancies, surpassing the full-year figure of 297,186 last year by 7.2%.
The department chalked up another record high of 11,199 job placements in September, up 5.8% over the previous peak of 10,589 in August and up 40.6% on last year's 7,963.
The Government's commitment, as announced by the Chief Executive in his 2005-06 Policy Address, to embark on a number of works and community facility projects, expedite urban renewal and promote building maintenance will create employment opportunities for the construction, property management and related industries, the department said.
The extension of the individual visit scheme to cover four more Mainland cities - Chengdu, Jinan, Shenyang and Dailan - from November 1 will boost inbound tourism and benefit the retail and job markets.
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