Unemployment rate remains stable

The city’s unemployment rate held stable at 2 per cent during the first four months of the year, according to the most recent information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).
Regarding local residents, the unemployment rate dropped by 0.1 percentage point, to 2.7 per cent, while the underemployment rate remained stable when compared to the January – March period, at 0.5 per cent.
During the February-April period, there were a total of 389,200 individuals in the labour force, with the labour force participation rate undergoing a slight increase of 0.1 per cent from the previous period, to 71.1 per cent.
Total employment hit 381,500, of which 280,000 were local residents, up by 2,000 and 1,900 individuals, respectively, from the previous period.
By principal industries, the wholesale and retail trade saw its employment decrease by 2 percentage points during the three-month period, with the employment rate at 46.5 per cent at the end of the period.
In contrast, the employment rates for construction as well as restaurants and similar activities experienced increases of 3.8 and 3.2 percentage points, ending up at 36.5 per cent and 23.6 per cent, respectively.
The city, as shown by the DSEC data, had a total of 7,700 unemployed during the February to April period, 200 fewer when compared to the January to March period.
Fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job made up 9.7 per cent of the total unemployed, the same proportion as in the previous period.
When compared to the same period a year ago, the unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point and the city’s labour force participation rate dropped by 1.1 per cent.
Meanwhile, the underemployment rate hovered at the same position when compared to the same period of last year.