Hong Kong’s unemployment rate drops to 3.0%; labour chief points to economic and travel rebound
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong’s unemployment rate decreased to 3 per cent during the February to April period, according to the latest statistics from the Census and Statistics Department. In a Thursday press release, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun attributed the fall to a revival in domestic economic activity and a rebound in visitor arrivals.
When comparing the February to April period with January to March, the number of unemployed persons dropped by around 700 – from 115,100 to 114,400. Total employment from around 3,654,100 to 3,655,900. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased from 3.1 per cent to 3.0 per cent.
Over the same period, the movement in the unemployment rate – which was not seasonally adjusted for different industries – varied. Relatively “notable decreases” were observed in the decoration, repair and maintenance industries of the buildings sector, the warehousing and support industries of the transportation sector, as well as the transportation sector overall.
Labour market improvement
The unemployment rate of the consumption and tourism-related sectors – such as retail, accommodation and food services – remained unchanged at 4.2 per cent during February to April, while that of the retail sector held steady at 3.8 per cent.
Meanwhile, the food and beverage service sectors declined slightly by 0.1 percentage points to 4.8 per cent. For the remaining sectors, the unemployment rates either saw little change or increased, but stayed low in general.
“The labour market continued to improve as domestic economic activities revived further and visitor arrivals rebounded strongly,” said Sun. “The labour market should improve further in the coming months alongside the ongoing economic recovery.”
In February to April, the Labour Department recorded a monthly average of 106,577 vacancies in the private sector, representing a year-on-year increase of 75 per cent and an increase of 4.4 per cent over the average figure during January to March.
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