Results of the Employment Survey for December 2005 – February 2006

According to the results of the Employment Survey released by the Statistics and Census Service, unemployment rate for December 2005 - February 2006 was held stable at 3.9%, same as the result of November 2005 - January 2006, but decreased by 0.2 percentage point compared with December 2004 - February 2005. The underemployment rate was 0.9%, down by 0.2 and 0.3 percentage point respectively compared with November 2005 - January 2006 and December 2004 - February 2005. Number of the unemployed searching for their first job was about 900, which represented 8.4% of the total unemployed population, down by 0.3 percentage point over November 2005 - January 2006. Compared with November 2005 - January 2006, the unemployment situation was improved in Manufacturing; and Transport, storage & communications sectors when the situation for other sectors was similar to that of November 2005 - January 2006. Total labour force was estimated at 263,000 in December 2005 - February 2006; the employed and the unemployed populations were 253,000 and 10,000 respectively. Labour force participation rate was 64.5%, up by 0.3 and 2.1 percentage points respectively compared with November 2005 - January 2006 and December 2004 - February 2005.