Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for June-August 2010 remained unchanged from the previous period (May-July 2010) at 2.9%; the underemployment rate dropped further by 0.3 percentage point to 1.5%. Total labour force was 327,000 in June-August 2010 and the labour force participation rate stood at 71.4%, with the employed population increasing by about 600 over the previous period to 317,500. Analyzed by industry, employment of Wholesale & Retail Trade and Real Estate & Business Activities saw increase, while employment of the Gaming Sector registered a decrease. Number of the unemployed decreased by about 200 from the previous period to 9,400, with 17.2% being fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job, up by 6.0 percentage points over the previous period. In comparison with June-August 2009, the labour force participation rate, the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate decreased by 1.2, 0.9 and 0.4 percentage points respectively.
