Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate (1.9%) and the underemployment rate (0.8%) for September-November 2012 held stable as the previous period (August-October). Total labour force was 356,200 and the labour force participation rate stood at 72.5%. Total employment reached 349,600, an increase of 2,900 over the previous period. Analysed by industry, notable increase was observed in the employment in Education and Real Estate & Business Activities. Number of the unemployed decreased by 100 from the previous period to 6,600, with 16.7% being fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job, down by 2.6 percentage points. In comparison with September-November 2011, the labour force participation rate, the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate decreased by 0.3, 0.6 and 0.2 percentage point respectively.
