Results of the Employment Survey for June – August 2005

According to the results of the Employment Survey released by the Statistics and Census Service, unemployment rate for June - August 2005 dropped slightly by 0.1 percentage point over May - July 2005 to 4.1%, down 0.8 percentage point compared with the same period of 2004. Underemployment rate went up 0.1 percentage point over May - July 2005 to 1.6%, down 0.2 percentage point compared with the same period of 2004. Number of the unemployed searching for their first job was about 1,700, which represented 16.2% of the total unemployed population, up 4.1 percentage points over May - July 2005. Compared with May - July 2005, unemployment situation continued to improve in Construction sector. Recreational, cultural, gaming & other service activities and Manufacturing sectors also showed improvement, while the situation in Wholesale & retail trade was worse. Total labour force was estimated at 250,000 in June - August 2005; the employed and the unemployed populations were 240,000 and 10,000 respectively. Labour force participation rate was 63.4%, up by 0.8 and 1.3 percentage point compared with May - July 2005 and the same period of 2004 respectively.