The latest unemployment figures released yesterday indicate a slight rise of 0.1 percent between August and October, up from 3.4 percent between July and September.

And the government expects the rate to keep climbing.

A total of 131,800 people were out of work between August and October.

The Census & Statistics Department said the unemployment rate affected both the domestic and external sectors.

Increases in the unemployment rate were found mostly in the retail trade, transport, import-export trades, hotels and storage sectors.

And the census department said the labor statistics have yet to fully reflect the impact of the global financial tsunami.

Financial Secretary John Tsang said he expects the jobless rate to increase further in the coming quarter, but he ensured the public that the government will do what it can to provide jobs.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung said job creation is the government's top priority.

It is going to launch about 100 public works projects in the next nine months that will create 40,000 jobs in the construction sector.

Still, Citigroup economist Joe Lo said in a research note that the unemployment-rate increase was lower than the market expectation of 3.6 percent.

Yet he believed the labor market would be under heavier pressure after thousands of Hong Kong construction workers were recently laid off due to the suspension of casino projects in Macao.

Billy Mak, a finance professor at Hong Kong Baptist University, expected the jobless figure to peak in the first quarter next year at 5 percent.

(HK Edition 11/19/2008 page1)