Results of the Employment Survey for August-October 2007

According to the results of the Employment Survey released by the Statistics and Census Service, the unemployment rate for August-October 2007 was 3.0%, down by 0.1 percentage point over the previous period (July-September 2007) or 0.6 percentage point year-on-year. The underemployment rate went up by 0.1 and 0.3 percentage point over the previous period and the same period of 2006 respectively to 1.2%. Total labour force was estimated at 318,400, with a labour force participation rate of 70.3%, which decreased by 0.1 percentage point from the previous period but increased by 3.7 percentage points year-on-year. The employed population increased by 1,100 over the previous period to 308,800. The number of persons engaged in Hotels, restaurants & similar activities continued to rise, but that in the Construction sector decreased slightly. The unemployed population was estimated at 9,600, a decrease of 200 compared with the previous period. Among the unemployed, about 1,900 were searching for their first job, down by 1.5 percentage points over the preceding period to take up 19.3% of the total unemployed.