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According to the figures released today (June 22) by the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), total employment in the private sector surveyed decreased by 1.0% or 25 000 persons in March 2009 compared with a year earlier. The total number of vacancies was 27 780, representing a decrease of 51% or 28 470 over last year.
Employment Statistics
In March 2009, the selected industries as a whole employed 2 442 200 persons. The import and export trade engaged 496 400 persons, followed by the retail trade engaging 232 000 persons, the professional and business services (excluding cleaning and similar services) 229 900 persons, and the food and beverage services 206 200 persons.
Employment increased in some of the surveyed industries compared with a year earlier. Increases in employment were recorded in the industries of education (4.6% or 6 900), human health services (3.0% or 2 600), manual workers at construction sites (2.8% or 1 400), accommodation services (2.7% or 800) and transportation, storage, postal and courier services (1.6% or 2 500). On the other hand, employment decreased in the industries of manufacturing (-7.0% or -9 500), import and export trade (-4.7% or -24 300) and wholesale trade (-3.1% or -2 000). Employment figures for selected major industries are shown in Table 1.
Vacancies Statistics
Among the 27 780 private sector vacancies, 4 870 were from the industry of food and beverage services, 2 890 from the retail trade, 2 790 from the professional and business services (excluding cleaning and similar services), 2 780 from the import and export trade, and 2 000 from the human health services.
Vacancies decreased in nearly all selected industries in March 2009 over a year earlier. Decreases were mainly in the import and export trade (-6 160 or -69%), the professional and business services (excluding cleaning and similar services) (-3 910 or -58%), the arts, entertainment, recreation and other services (-3 810 or -66%), the financing and insurance (-3 410 or -66%) and the retail trade (-2 840 or -50%). Yet increase was seen in the food and beverage services (240 or 5%). Job vacancies figures for selected major industries are shown in Table 2.
Analysed by major occupation category, private sector vacancies were observed mainly for service workers and shop sales workers with 8 750 reported ones, associate professionals 7 970 and elementary occupations 4 030. Job vacancies figures by major occupation category are shown in Table 3.
Seasonally Adjusted Statistics
For discerning the latest trend in employment and vacancies in the private sector, it is useful to look at changes over a three-month period in the respective seasonally adjusted figures. Compared with December 2008, the seasonally adjusted total employment and total vacancies in the surveyed sectors decreased by 0.7% and 28.2% respectively in March 2009. The changes over three-month period in the seasonally adjusted series of employment and vacancies are shown in Table 4.
Other Information
The above employment and vacancies 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 C&SD. In the former survey, some economic activities (e.g. those dominated by self-employment, including taxi operators and hawkers) are not covered. Therefore, the respective employment and vacancies figures relate only to those selected industries included in the survey. In the latter survey on construction sites, employment and vacancies figures relate to only manual workers working at major construction sites.
In the above statistics, the classification of industries follows the Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification (HSIC), which is used in various economic surveys for classifying economic units into different industry classes. Upon the implementation of the new HSIC Version 2.0 by the C&SD in October 2008, the SEV has been enhanced to adopt the new classification in compiling the employment and vacancies statistics. Starting from March 2009, all the employment and vacancies statistics, unless otherwise specified, are compiled based on the HSIC Version 2.0.
Starting from the March 2009 round of the SEV, the survey coverage has been expanded to include more economic activities in some of the industries due to the change in industrial classification. The activities newly covered are in the industries of transportation, storage, postal and courier services; professional and business services; and arts, entertainment, recreation and other services. As a result of the change in coverage, some 1 000 establishments with 5 000 persons engaged and 10 vacancies in the private sector were additionally included, accounting for 0.33%, 0.20% and 0.04% of the respective totals of all the industries surveyed in March 2009.
Detailed breakdowns of the above statistics are published in the March 2009 issue of Quarterly Report of Employment and Vacancies Statistics and Quarterly Report of Employment and Vacancies at Construction Sites. The C&SD has recently conducted a review on the printing of statistical publications and has decided that the print version of these publications will no longer be produced starting from this edition. Nevertheless, these publications are still available for downloading free of charge from the website of the C&SD at www.censtatd.gov.hk/products_and_services/products/publications/statistical_report/labour/index.jsp.
The series of employment and vacancies statistics under the HSIC Version 2.0 has also been backcasted to March 2004. The revised statistics can be downloaded at the website of the C&SD (www.censtatd.gov.hk/hong_kong_statistics/statistical_tables/index.jsp?charsetID=1&subjectID=2&tableID=017). Readers who are interested in the backcasted series or have enquiries about the survey results may contact the Employment Statistics Section, Census and Statistics Department (Tel.: 2582 5076; Fax: 2827 2296; E-mail: employment@censtatd.gov.hk).
Ends/Monday, June 22, 2009
Issued at HKT 16:31
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