Results of the Employment Survey for August – October 2006

According to the results of the Employment Survey released by the Statistics and Census Service, unemployment rate for August - October 2006 was 3.6%, which fell by 0.2 percentage point over July - September 2006, and 0.5 percentage point over the same period of 2005. The underemployment rate was 0.9%, down by 0.1 and 0.6 percentage point over the preceding period and the same period of 2005 respectively. About 1,400 unemployed persons were searching for their first job, representing 13.7% of the total unemployed population, up by 0.2 percentage point over the preceding period. Compared with the previous period, the unemployment situation continued to improve in Hotels, restaurants & similar activities, and Real estate, renting & business activities, while that in the Wholesale & retail trade and Recreational, cultural, gaming & other services also showed improvement; however, the situation was less favourable in the Manufacturing sector. Total labour force was estimated at 284,000 in August - October 2006, of which the employed and the unemployed populations were 274,000 and 10,000 respectively. Labour force participation rate was 66.2%, up by 0.3 and 2.6 percentage points over July - September 2006 and the same period of 2005 respectively.