Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for November 2010 - January 2011 held stable at 2.7% and the underemployment rate remained unchanged at 1.7% from the previous period (October-December 2010). Total labour force was 332,000 in November 2010 - January 2011 and the labour force participation rate stood at 71.4%, with the employed population increasing by about 800 over the previous period to 323,000. Analyzed by industry, employment of Manufacture of Wearing Apparel saw increase, while that of the Construction Sector and Wholesale Trade registered a decrease. Number of the unemployed decreased slightly by 100 from the previous period to 8,900, with 7.5% being fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job, down by 3.0 percentage points over the previous period. In comparison with November 2009 - January 2010, the labour force participation rate rose by 0.6 percentage point; the unemployment rate dropped by 0.3 percentage point, while the underemployment rate stayed unchanged.
