Unemployment rate | fell for 6 months to 4.7%, beating expectations

As the epidemic eased, and the anti-epidemic measures were slightly relaxed earlier, the unemployment rate in Hong Kong further dropped.

According to statistics on unemployment and underemployment from June to August released by the Census and Statistics Department today (16), the unemployment rate dropped another 0.3 percentage point to 4.7%, but 188,000 people were still unemployed and the underemployment rate also increased from 5. The 2.4% in July fell to 2.2%.

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Compared with the previous period, the unemployment rate of most major economic industries fell from June to August. Among them, the construction industry and the transportation industry experienced relatively significant declines.

As for the underemployment rate, the decline was mainly seen in the construction industry, catering service activities, and arts, entertainment and recreational activities.

The number of unemployed fell by more than 10,000

The number of unemployed fell from 198,400 in the previous period to 187,700 from June to August, a decrease of about 10,700.

During the same period, the number of underemployed persons also dropped from 92,300 to 86,200, a decrease of approximately 6,100.

Luo Zhiguang: The labor market continues to improve with the economic recovery

The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Law Chi Kwong, said that the labour market continues to improve as the economy recovers.

Analyzed by industry, among the consumer and tourism-related industries, the unemployment rate of the retail industry and the accommodation service industry dropped 0.4 and 0.5 percentage points from June to August compared with the previous three months to 6.4% and 6.9%; catering services The unemployment rate in the activity industry has remained unchanged at 8.6% after falling for several consecutive periods since the beginning of 2021.

Looking ahead, Luo Zhiguang believes that as the economy continues to recover, the labor market should improve further.

Electronic consumer vouchers distributed by the government will continue to support consumption-related activities.

However, due to the more contagious Delta variant virus spreading in many places around the world, the global epidemic is still a major uncertain factor in the economic and labor market prospects.

Society must work together to achieve a wider range of vaccinations to assist the full recovery of the economy and further improve the labor market.

The Labour Department will have another large-scale job fair next month and more than 50 employers will participate

Regarding large-scale job fairs, the Labour Department will hold a "New Job Fair for Job Seekers" at the MacPherson venue on October 12 and 13, with more than 50 employers participating and providing a large number of job vacancies in different industries.

From June to August, the Labour Department recorded an average of 96,429 vacancies from the private sector each month, an increase of 9.3% from the average figure from May to July and a year-on-year increase of 69.1%.

Job seekers can use the Labour Department's online platforms (such as the "Interactive Employment Service" website) to obtain information on these vacancies.

▼The economy is hit hard by the epidemic, and job fairs of the Labour Department are flooded▼

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Human Resources Consultant: Unemployment rate will hardly fall to pre-epidemic level before the end of the year

Zhou Qiping, managing director of Yizhi Consulting, said that the 4.7% unemployment rate is considered ideal. It can be seen that the consumer vouchers and the local zero diagnosis have made the atmosphere better. Compared with the graduates of the previous year, the situation faced by recent college graduates is more favorable. optimism.

However, because of the small-scale outbreak of the epidemic in the mainland, customs clearance with the mainland may not be a success. Therefore, she estimates that the unemployment rate will not return to before the epidemic until the end of the year.

▼The economy is hit hard by the epidemic, and job fairs are crowded▼

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▼9.6 Elderly people go to Tuen Mun Service Center to re-register for consumption vouchers▼

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The unemployment rate in Hong Kong continued to fall to 4.7% in August. The unemployed army dropped by 10,700. Unemployment rate was down by 10,700 people. Unemployment rate was down by 10,700 people. The Nasdaq broke the top and energy stocks led the market

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