Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that both the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate for December 2011-February 2012 held stable as the previous period (November 2011-January 2012), at 2.1% and 0.8% respectively. Total labour force was 346,000 in December 2011-February 2012 and the labour force participation rate stood at 73.2%, same as the previous period. Total employment reached 339,000, up by 900 over the previous period. Analyzed by industry, employment of the Retail Trade, Hotel, and Gaming saw increase, while that of Wholesale Trade; and Restaurants & Similar Activities registered decrease. Number of the unemployed decreased by 300 from the previous period to 7,100, with 11.9% being fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job, down by 0.8 percentage point. In comparison with December 2010-February 2011, both the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate decreased by 0.7 percentage point; however, the labour force participation rate increased by 1.1 percentage points.
