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Following is the transcript (English portion) of a media session by the Financial Secretary, Mr Henry Tang, on the latest unemployment rate at the ground floor lobby of West Wing, Central Government Offices this (July 20) afternoon:
Financial Secretary: The latest quarter's (from April to June) unemployment rate was 6.9%, which is a 0.1 percentage point drop from last quarter's, which was 7%. The underemployment rate remained stable at 3.5% and total employment actually has gone up quite substantially. It went up by 13,300 people to 3.282 million, which is a historical high. Other than (absorbing) the increase in the total labour force, the number of people who are unemployed also went down by 4,100 to 240,000.
The main improvements are (found in) some of the trades that are associated with tourism, such as retail trade, restaurants and transport. And construction has also shown some improvement in the last quarter.
The Labour Department continued to record good vacancies (from the private sector) - about 1,000 vacancies a day. Last month, they successfully placed 7,500 people into new jobs and I'm very pleased with these figures.
I'm very pleased that this is the first time it (the unemployment rate) has gone down below 7%, which is a historical low, in 28 months. However, I believe that the whole market, although generally it has continued to improve, is still full of challenges because we are going through rather challenging structural changes. So our employment situation will continue to be challenging. Government will continue to facilitate the market to create more jobs and I think this is something that we very much look forward to cooperating with businesses as well as the labour sector on how to further improve the situation.
Reporter: Mr Tang, about the unemployment rate, would the school leavers up the unemployment rate?
Financial Secretary: That's a very pertinent question because these figures are only up to June. And July is a month when many of the school leavers will be joining the employment market, so I believe it will be a challenge for us to see this figure remain stable in the next month.
Reporter: It will go up, the unemployment rate?
Financial Secretary: It will be a challenge. In a way, the market is improving, but because there are school leavers who will be joining the market, so it will be a challenge. However, (if) we compare these figures year-on-year, i.e. July this year with July last year, which means (taking into account) the seasonally adjusted factor, it will be comparable with what has happened in the same quarter of last year, when there were school leavers as well.
Reporter: Mr Tang, should we be concerned about the (consumer confidence) index that you are talking about?
Financial Secretary: We should and we should not. On its historical average, we averaged about 47 points. (In the previous release) we bounced back from last year's low of, I think, 23 points, to 81 points. It is a rather dramatic increase from 23 to 81. I think Hong Kong people have a very healthy attitude towards consumerism. They will spend when they feel they can afford it and when they feel confident of their future, so I think this is a reflection of a period where they have spent money in the past half year, and now they want to take a breather and spend a little bit less. But 71% is still a very high number, we remain fifth in Asia. I think this is a healthy development and reflects what the market is doing. I would not be too concerned about it.
Reporter: Can I ask you about the proposal of the deputy secretaries made by Mr Lau Siu Kai? Do you think it's a good thing to have something like this or not?
Financial Secretary: I think it is far too premature to be discussing this subject. There are implications and serious ramifications. A subject like this should not be discussed without thinking through the implications and its ramifications.
Reporter: Do you think it's a good idea to have it?
Financial Secretary: I did not say that.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript)
Ends/Tuesday, July 20, 2004
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