According to the results of the Employment Survey released by the Statistics and Census Service, unemployment rate for January - March 2006 was held stable 3.9%, same as that for December 2005 - February 2006, and decreased by 0.2 percentage point over the same period of 2005. The underemployment rate was up slightly by 0.1 percentage point over December 2005 - February 2006 to 1.0%, but fell by 0.1 percentage point compared with the same period of 2005. Number of the unemployed searching for their first job was about 700, representing 7.1% of the total unemployed population, down by 1.3 percentage points over December 2005 - February 2006. Compared with December 2005 - February 2006, the unemployment situation was improved in the Construction sector and Hotels & similar activities, while it was less favourable in Restaurants & similar activities and the Manufacturing sector. Total labour force was estimated at 265,800 in January - March 2006; the employed and the unemployed populations were 255,400 and 10,400 respectively. Labour force participation rate was 64.7%, up by 0.2 and 2.2 percentage points respectively over December 2005 - February 2006 and the same period of 2005. Administrative information from the Labour Affairs Bureau and the Public Security Police indicated that number of non-resident workers with working permits totalled 47,876 at the end of March 2006, an increase of 21.5% over December 2005. Please refer to the attached table for detailed information on non-resident workers by industry.
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