Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for January-March 2011 was 2.7% and the underemployment rate was 1.4%, down by 0.1 and 0.2 percentage point respectively over the previous period (December 2010 - February 2011). Total labour force was 334,000 in January-March 2011 and the labour force participation rate stood at 71.5%, with the employed population increasing by about 800 over the previous period to 325,000. Analyzed by industry, employment of Restaurants & Similar Activities saw increase, while that of Recreational, Cultural, Gaming & Other Services and the Transport, Storage & Communications Sector registered a decrease. Number of the unemployed decreased slightly by 300 from the previous period to 8,900, with 6.5% being fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job, up by 1.4 percentage points over the previous period. In comparison with January-March 2010, the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate dropped by 0.2 and 0.4 percentage point respectively; meanwhile, the labour force participation rate rose by 0.4 percentage point. In the first quarter of 2011, the unemployment rate of local residents held stable at 3.3%, same as the fourth quarter of 2010; the labour force participation rate of local residents dropped by 0.1 percentage point to 66.8%.
