Hong Kong employment rate way up

Hong Kong's unemployment rate fell to 3.9 percent in the August-October period, the lowest level in nine years.

The Census & Statistics Department (C&SD) of Hong Kong early this week said the number of unemployed decreased to less than the 150,000-level in August-October.

Authorities are encouraged by the fact that employment increased despite the fact that many summer workers left their jobs to return to school by the end of the period.

The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Matthew Cheung, welcomed the unemployment rate's decrease.

"This reflects the robust state of our economy and the buoyancy of the labor market," he said.

The businesses benefiting most from the lower unemployment rate are restaurants, manufacturers, amusement and recreational service providers, and the real estate sector. The employment increase mostly affected the construction, sanitation and communications sectors.

The total number of people without jobs fell by 7,300 from 3.5 million between July and September to 3.49 million between August and October. The labor force declined from 3,658,400 to 3,638,500 over the same period - a decrease of 19,900.

Official statistics also showed the number of unemployed dropped from 156,300 for the July-September period to 143,600 for August-October. During the same period, the number of underemployed increased by 1,700 from 80,500 to 82,200.

In October 2007, the Labor Department netted 56,948 vacancies from the private sector, a significant increase of 45 percent over the same period last year. On average, the department received more than 2,700 vacancies per working day.

The Labor Department has predicted there could be room for further reducing unemployment in the coming months because of robust economic growth and sanguine consumer sentiment - especially strong in the run-up to the Christmas and Chinese New Year holidays.

Cheung said that in the long run, the government "will continue to step up its efforts to help those in need of employment assistance". These include jobseekers with low skill and education levels, and those struggling to adjust to an increasingly knowledge-based economy.

"The relaxation of the eligibility criteria for training under the Employees Retraining Board effective from December 1 this year will be a significant step in this direction and should benefit more people," he said.

(China Daily 11/22/2007 page15)