Results of the Employment Survey for February – April 2007

According to the results of the Employment Survey released by the Statistics and Census Service, the unemployment rate for February - April 2007 was held stable at 3.2%, same as that in the previous period (January - March 2007), but down by 0.7 percentage point year-on-year. The underemployment rate was up by 0.1 percentage point over the previous period to 0.8%, but fell by 0.3 percentage point over the same period of 2006. About 800 unemployed persons were searching for their first job, representing 8.8% of the total unemployed population, down by 0.4 percentage point over the preceding period. Meanwhile, the unemployment situation improved in Manufacturing sector, but the situation was less favourable in Restaurants & similar activities. Total labour force was estimated at 296,000 in February - April 2007, among them, 287,000 were employed and 9,400 were unemployed. Labour force participation rate was 67.3%, up by 0.3 percentage point over the preceding period and 2.6 percentage points year-on-year.