H.K. unemployment rate slightly down to 4.5%

Asian Economic News, Jan 22, 2001

HONG KONG, Jan. 16 Kyodo

Hong Kong's unemployment rate for the October-December period last year was 4.5%, slightly lower than the 4.6% posted in the September-November period, the Census and Statistics Department said Tuesday.

The underemployment rate in the October-December period was 2.7%, unchanged from September-November, which was revised marginally up from the provisional figure of 2.6%, the department said.

In Hong Kong a person is defined as underemployed if he or she is hired to work less than 35 hours a week.

Total employment continued to grow at a faster pace than the total labor force due to the strong pickup in the economy in the preceding several quarters, a government spokesman said in a statement.

''This has led to sustained narrowing in the manpower resource balance and thus steady decline in the unemployment rate,'' the spokesman said.

Hong Kong's workforce reached 3.40 million in the October-December period, up slightly from 3.39 million in September-November.

The number of employed persons rose to 3.25 million from 3.24 million in the corresponding periods, the government statistics showed.

Comparing the two periods, decreases in the unemployment rate were seen mainly in the sectors of decoration and maintenance, retail trade, hotels, communications and insurance.

An increase in the jobless rate was posted in the real estate sector.