***************************************************

According to the figures released today (March 22) by the Census and Statistics Department, employment in all the service sectors surveyed continued to increase in December 2000 over a year earlier. Among them, the community, social and personal services sector had the largest rate of growth in employment. Employment of manual workers at construction sites also showed an appreciable increase. Yet employment in the manufacturing sector continued on a decline. Meanwhile, vacancies for all the surveyed sectors taken together showed little change over a year earlier.

Employment Statistics

The wholesale, retail and import/export trades, restaurants and hotels sector remained the largest source of employment, with 1 009 100 persons engaged in December 2000. This was followed by the financing, insurance, real estate and business services sector, with an employment of 434 100; the community, social and personal services sector, 354 500; the manufacturing sector, 226 200; and the transport, storage and communications sector, 176 900. In addition, there were 83 900 manual workers at construction sites.

On a year-on-year comparison, the growth rate in employment in December 2000 was most distinct amongst manual workers at construction sites; followed by employment in the community, social and personal services sector; and the financing, insurance, real estate and business services sector. However, employment in the manufacturing sector continued to shrink. Employment figures by selected sector are shown in Table 1.

Vacancies Statistics

The number of vacancies went up almost across all services sectors in December 2000 over a year earlier, with the largest rate of increase occurring in the financing, insurance, real estate and business services sector. Vacancies in the community, social and personal services sector and the wholesale, retail and import/export trades, restaurants and hotels sector also increased, albeit only marginally. Yet vacancies for the transport, storage and communications sector showed a modest decline. As for vacancies in the manufacturing sector and for manual workers at construction sites, larger decreases were observed over the same period. For all the sectors surveyed taken together, there were around 27 300 vacancies in December 2000, with 25 300 in the private sector and 2 000 in the civil service.

Of the 25 300 private sector vacancies in December 2000, the largest number was recorded in the wholesale, retail and import/export trades, restaurants and hotels sector, at 9 780. This was followed by the financing, insurance, real estate and business services sector, at 7 060; and the community, social and personal services sector, at 5 100. Job vacancy figures for selected sectors are shown in Table 2.

Analysed by occupation, private sector vacancies were mainly recorded in three major occupation categories, viz. associate professionals, clerks, as well as service workers and shop sales workers. Vacancies in these three occupations taken together accounted for more than 70% of the total. On a year-on-year comparison, vacancies for clerks showed the largest increase, followed by those for managers and administrators, craft and related workers, and professionals. Vacancies for other categories, however, declined. Job vacancy figures broken down by major occupation category are shown in Table 3.

Seasonally Adjusted Statistics

For discerning the latest short-term movement in the trend of employment and vacancies in the private sector net of seasonal effects, it is also useful to look at quarterly changes in the seasonally adjusted figures of employment and vacancies. On a quarter-to-quarter comparison, the seasonally adjusted employment and vacancy figures for all the sectors surveyed taken together decreased by 1.1% and 19.3% respectively in December 2000. Quarter-to-quarter changes of the seasonally adjusted employment and vacancy figures for all the economic sectors surveyed taken together are shown in Table 4. For the deseasonalised series by individual economic sector, the corresponding quarter-to-quarter changes are shown in Tables 1 and 2 respectively.

Other Information

The above employment and vacancy statistics were obtained from the Quarterly Survey of Employment and Vacancies (SEV) and the Quarterly Employment Survey of Construction Sites (Site Survey) conducted by the Census and Statistics Department. In the former survey, some economic activities (e.g. those where self-employment is predominant, such as taxi operators, hawkers and freelance authors) are not covered and hence the respective employment and vacancy figures relate only to those selected industries included in the survey. In the latter survey on construction sites, employment and vacancy figures relate to manual workers only.

Detailed breakdowns of the above statistics are published in the December 2000 "Quarterly Report of Employment and Vacancies Statistics" and "Quarterly Report of Employment and Vacancies at Construction Sites". They are available at HK$24 and HK$16 per copy (both exclusive of postage) respectively at the Government Publications Centre, Ground Floor, Low Block, Queensway Government Offices, 66 Queensway, Hong Kong, and at the Publications Unit of the Census and Statistics Department on the 19th Floor, Wanchai Tower, 12 Harbour Road, Wan Chai, Hong Kong. Moreover, Internet users may order the publication through the website of the Information Services Department (Address: http://www.info.gov.hk/isd/book_e.htm).

End/Thursday, March 22, 2001

NNNN