Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for May-July 2010 was 2.9%, up slightly by 0.1 percentage point over the previous period (April-June 2010); the underemployment rate dropped by 0.1 percentage point to 1.8%. Total labour force was 326,000 in May-July 2010 and the labour force participation rate stood at 71.5%, with the employed population decreasing by about 200 over the previous period to 317,000. Analyzed by industry, employment of the Manufacturing Sector and Retail Trade saw decrease, while employment of Construction registered an increase. Number of the unemployed increased by about 300 from the previous period to 9,600; with more graduates entering the labour market, the proportion of fresh labour force entrants looking for the first job rose by 3.7 percentage points over the previous period to 11.2%. In comparison with May-July 2009, the labour force participation rate, the unemployment rate and underemployment rate decreased by 1.3, 0.8 and 0.1 percentage points respectively.
