HK's Jobless Rate Unchanged in June-AugustHong Kong's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in the period from June to August 2000 was 4.9 percent, the same as that in the three months between May and July, the Census and Statistics Department said on Monday.The underemployment rate in the June-August period, at 2.8 percent, was lower than the 3 percent in May-July, according to statistics released by the Census and Statistics Department. Comparing June-August with May-July 2000, decreases in the unemployment rate were seen mainly in the decoration and maintenance, restaurants, import and export trade, financing and insurance sectors, offsetting the increases registered in the real estate and business services sectors. The size of the total labor force, at 3,386,000 in June-August 2000, was larger than that of 3,380,200 in the previous three months. The number of employed persons also increased, from 3,207,700 to 3,213,000 over the same period. The number of unemployed persons edged down from 172,400 in May-July 2000 to 172,000 in June-August 2000 while that of underemployed persons also fell, from 102,100 to 96,000. A government Secretariat spokesman noted that unemployment had not risen in the latest period, even with the further entry of fresh graduates and school leavers into the labor market. This indicated that along with the sustained economic recovery, these fresh graduates and school leavers were being increasingly absorbed into employment, the spokesman said. |
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