Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that both the unemployment rate (1.8%) and the underemployment rate (0.4%) for May-July 2015 remained stable as in April-June 2015. Total labour force was 405,200 and the labour force participation rate stood at 73.7%. Total employment decreased slightly by 400 from April-June 2015, at 397,900. Analysed by industry, employment in Construction registered decrease, while that in Education and Wholesale & Retail Trade saw increase. Number of the unemployed was 7,400, up by 200 from April-June 2015. With fresh graduates joining the labour market, the proportion of fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job increased by 4.9 percentage points to 14.4% of the total unemployed. In comparison with May-July 2014, the labour force participation rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point, while both the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point.
