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Following is a transcript of remarks (English portion) by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Matthew Cheung Kin-chung, on the latest unemployment statistics at a media session today (December 19):
On the short-term outlook, in the face of a more uncertain external environment stemming from the evolving Eurozone sovereign debt crisis and the fragile fundamentals of the advanced economies, employers generally tend to stay cautious towards recruitment. Nevertheless, the prevailing strength of domestic demand and inbound tourism should render some cushion to upward pressure on the overall unemployment rate in the near term, especially with the seasonal surge in consumption in the run-up to Christmas and New Year. We will continue to be vigilant and monitor the development in the labour market closely.
Despite a slight dip last month, total employment increased again by 11 100 to a historic high of 3.65 million, partly because of a seasonal rise in labour demand towards the year-end. Thanks to the robust local demand and inbound tourism, visible job gains of 13 100 were seen in the Low Paying Sector, of which 6 400 were in the retail sector.
A similar phenomenon can be reflected from the number of private sector vacancies recorded by the Labour Department which has stayed at a pretty high level. In November 2011, in particular, the number of private sector vacancies received by the Labour Department rose by 20.3 per cent from October 2011 to an all-time high of over 103 000, and it was up by 46 per cent over the level in the same period last year.
(Please also refer to the Chinese portion of the transcript.)
Ends/Monday, December 19, 2011
Issued at HKT 18:20
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