Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for January-March 2009 was 3.8% and the underemployment rate was 1.8%, up by 0.2 and 0.1 percentage point respectively over the previous period (December 2008 - February 2009). Total labour force was 333,000 in January-March 2009, an increase of 1,600 over the previous period, with the employed population rising by 800 to 320,000. The labour force participation rate was 72.4%, same as that in the preceding period. The unemployed population was 13,000, an increase of 800 over the previous period. By industry, the increase in the number of the unemployed was more noticeable in Construction and Retail Trade. Among the unemployed, 10.5% (1,300) were fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job, down by 1.1 percentage points over the preceding period. In comparison with January-March 2008, the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate went up by 0.9 and 0.3 percentage point respectively, while the labour force participation rate fell by 0.7 percentage point. In the first quarter of 2009, the unemployment rate of local residents stood at 4.8%, up by 0.8 percentage point over the fourth quarter of 2008; the labour force participation rate of local residents dropped by 0.2 percentage point to 67.0%.
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