Hong Kong’s unemployment rate has remained at 2.9 per cent, as the city’s labour chief said the labour market “should remain tight” in the near future despite a “still unfavourable external environment.”
According to a Thursday statement, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 2.9 per cent from September to November this year, according to figures released by the Census and Statistics Department. It is the same figure recorded between August and October, when unemployment edged up from a four-year low.
Comparing those three-month periods, “movements in the unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) and underemployment rate in different industry sectors varied, but the magnitudes were generally not large.”
Total employment decreased by around 4,700 from 3,713,400 between August and October to 3,708,700 between September and November. The jobless population decreased by around 3,400 between August and October, and September to November.
The labour force also continued to drop by around 8,100 from 3,829,200 to 3,821,100 over the same period. Comparing the periods of July to September with August to October, the labour force shrunk by 5,100.
Labour and welfare minister Chris Sun said the latest figures “mostly [showed] only small changes compared with the preceding three-month period.”
“The labour market should remain tight in the near term,” he said in the statement. “Though the still unfavourable external environment might have some negative effects, the expected further recovery of inbound tourism and private consumption would continue to underpin labour demand.”
In the most recent period, the Labour Department recorded a monthly average of 91,527 vacancies in the private sector, representing a year-on-year decrease of 14.7 per cent.
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