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SLW on latest unemployment statistics
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     Following is a transcript of remarks by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, on the latest unemployment statistics at a media stand-up session today (September 20):

     Unemployment rate for the quarter of June ¡V August this year stood at 3.2%, down by 0.2 percentage points on the previous period (May ¡V July).  This, in fact, is the lowest level since December 1997 ¡V February 1998.

     Total employment rose for the sixth consecutive month, reaching a new record high of 3.63 million people for the period in June ¡V August 2011.  As the employment growth distinctly outpaced the labour supply growth, the number of unemployed persons declined notably by 7 200 to 130 100.

     Decreases were mainly observed in the construction, warehousing and support activities for transportation, food and beverage service activities sectors, and professional and business services.

     As for the underemployment rate, increases were mainly seen in the construction and food and beverage service activities sectors.

     The unemployment rate for young people aged 15-24 fell by 0.2 percentage points to 11% over the period. Within this particular group, the unemployment rate of those aged 15-19 decreased by 1.1 percentage points to 17.9%.

     The data on middle-aged persons also showed considerable improvement.  The unemployment rate for those aged 40-49 had edged down by 0.1 percentage point to 2.7%, whereas the unemployment rate for workers aged 50-59 declined more by 0.5 percentage point to 3.0%.

     On the short-term outlook in the next few months, with most summer time workers returning to school upon the start of new academic year in September, the labour supply can be expected to decrease somewhat.

     On labour demand, while Hong Kong's economic performance has held up rather well so far, the hiring sentiment among employers has turned more cautious lately because of two factors - the first is the deepening Eurozone sovereign crisis and the second factor is the fragile economy in the United States.

     We will continue to closely monitor the external environment and developments and particularly the effects on Hong Kong's overall economic outlook and the pace of job creation.

     I would also like to briefly mention the latest state of play on Statutory Minimum Wage. While the latest earnings statistics have not fully reflected the effect of Statutory Minimum Wage, it is worth noting that the average employment earnings for full-time employees, particularly in the lowest decile group, registered a notable increase of 12.5% year-on-year, much higher than the overall average of 7.6% and this represents a real growth of 4.2% after inflation.  Apparently, the implementation of minimum wage has improved considerably the earnings of low-income workers.
 
     As regards job vacancies of private sector, the Labour Department has continued to receive over 3 000 vacancies per working day on average, which is pretty encouraging.  In fact, it has been on an upward trend since May this year.  In August for example, it stood at over 80 000.

     We will do our best to help job seekers. A pretty large job fair will be held in Fanling this Friday providing 4 000 jobs for the retail, restaurant and also management services industry, particularly catering for those at the lower end of the market.

(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)

Ends/Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Issued at HKT 21:08

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