The catering industry's unemployment rate fell by two percentage points from 8.9% in the second quarter of last year to 6.9% in the corresponding period this year, Secretary for Labour & Welfare Matthew Cheung says. The number of unemployed people in the trade fell by 3,500 to 16,300.

Mr Cheung said today the situation has improved notably with the recovery of the economy. About 15,400 new posts were created last year.

From January to June 53 summonses involving the catering industry had been secured, up 20% on the same period last year. Three company directors and an employer, including a catering establishment director, were jailed in the first half of this year.

"The judgments send out a strong message to employers that the courts are attaching high importance to wage offences and stringent actions have been taken against employers who have committed wage offences," Mr Cheung said.

In addition, nine labour disputes involving more than 20 workers in each case were recorded in the catering industry for the first half of the year, a significant drop of 57.1% on the 21 cases in the corresponding period last year.