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 | Tuesday, April 18, 2000, updated at 09:53(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
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Jobless Rate Shows Slight Improvement in Hong KongHong Kong's jobless rate edged down in the three months to March as the economy picked up, the government said Monday.The unemployment rate for the January-March period was 5.6 percent, down from 5.7 percent in the previous quarter, the census and statistics department said. The underemployment rate, the measure of those with jobs who are not adequately compensated, was 2.8 percent, up from 2.6 previously. Government economist K. Y. Tang said the unemployment rate edged down along with a further pick-up in overall economic activity. He said the increase in the underemployment rate possibly came from a number of unemployed people finding temporary or part-time work. The jobless rate decreased mainly in the decoration and maintenance, restaurants and hotels, and financing and communications sectors. Increases in the underemployment rate were seen mainly in the construction, manufacturing and transport sectors. For January-March, the total labour force was provisionally estimated at 3,534,000. Hong Kong's jobless rate hit record levels above six percent as the territory battled the lingering fallout of the Asian financial crisis, which plunged the territory into recession in 1998.
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