Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for January-March 2015 continued to remain stable at 1.7% as in the previous period (December 2014-February 2015); the underemployment rate was 0.3%, down by 0.1 percentage point. Total labour force was 406,300 and the labour force participation rate stood at 74.3%. Total employment reached 399,500, an increase of 0.7% from December 2014-February 2015. Analysed by industry, employment in Construction increased by 1.5%, and that in Hotels & Similar Activities rose by 2.4%. Number of the unemployed was 6,800, similar to that in December 2014-February 2015; fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 6.5% of the total unemployed, down by 3.4 percentage points. In the first quarter of 2015, the general unemployment rate (1.7%) and the unemployment rate of local residents (2.4%) held stable as the previous quarter. Total employment increased by 900 quarter-to-quarter. Analysed by industry, employment in Health & Social Welfare (11,900) rose by 2,200, while that in Gaming (84,600) and Hotels & Similar Activities (26,100) dropped by 2,400 and 1,800 respectively. Attributable to the distribution of the thirteenth month salary and bonuses by many industries in the first quarter, median monthly employment earnings of the employed (MOP15,000) and the employed residents (MOP18,000) increased by MOP1,000 and MOP2,000 respectively quarter-to-quarter.
