Unemployment rate at all-time low

2014/8/28

From：Macau Business Daily

Macau’s unemployment rate remained unchanged at 1.7 percent between May and July. While there were more people entering the job market, the majority of whom were first job seekers, the city’s unemployment rate has remained stable for the past seven consecutive quarters, or from that of a year ago.
In the period between May and July 2013, Macau’s unemployment rate was 1.9 percent, and has since decreased and remained stable at the current 1.7 percent.
Still compared to that of the previous period, the unemployment rate dropped slightly by 0.2 percentage points, however, with the overall rate remaining unchanged at 1.7 percent, while the underemployment rate dropped 0.4 percentage points.
By contrast, the labour participation rate has been increasing steadily from the 72.6 percent registered in the May-July 2013 period to 73.8 percent in the same period this year. That is a 1.2 percentage point increase.
The latest figures from the Statistics and Census Service Bureau (DSEC) show that underemployment rate dropped by 0.1 percentage points to 0.3 percent compared to the April-June period.
Total employment rose by 3,400 to 387,000, with employment in the construction sector increasing by 3,100 to 54,000. Also, between May and July the hospitality industry added 1,400 new jobs, all of which have been filled.
At the end of July, the industry employing the most people was that of ‘recreational, culture and gaming’ at 23.2 percent, followed by hospitality at 14.1 percent and construction at 14 percent.
The overall labour force in Macau was 393,000 with a participation rate increase of 0.4 percentage points to 73.8 percent from the period April to June.
A total of 6,700 individuals were registered as unemployed between May and July. That’s 200 more than in the previous period. Fresh graduates made up the majority of these by joining the labour market and searching for their first jobs.
According to figures released yesterday, the number of first job seekers increased by 3 percentage points to account for 18 percent of the total unemployed.

Copyright@Macau Business Daily