The unemployment rate remained stable at 1.9 per cent during the quarter from August to October in comparison to July to September, data released by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) revealed on Friday. The unemployment rate recorded between August and October means an increase of 0.2 percentage points from 1.7 per cent between August and October of 2014. For this period, the number of unemployed was 7,500, down 100 from July-September. Of these, fresh labour entrants searching for their first job accounted for 11.9 per cent of the total unemployed, down 2.7 percentage points in comparison to July to September. As for the end of October, the total labour force amounted to 402,000, a decline of 500, and the participation rate stood at 72.3 per cent, exactly the same as the previous considered period. During the period between July and September, employment in the hotel and restaurant industries increased 0.7 per cent to 29,700 and 2.2 per cent to 25,900, respectively. By contrast, the number of people employed in the construction sector decreased 1.9 per cent to 51,900 from around 52,900. The same trend was recorded for gaming and junket activities, posting a decline of 0.7 per cent to 83,600 from 84,200, while the number of people employed in the wholesale and retail trade dipped 1 per cent to 44,100 from 44,600. In terms of industry, recreational, cultural, gaming and other services employ 24 per cent of the labour force in the market. Hotels, restaurants and similar activities account for 14.1 per cent, while construction takes 13.2 per cent and wholesale and retail 11.2 per cent.
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