Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the employment situation in Macao continued to be encouraging. The unemployment rate for March - May 2013 was 1.8%, down by 0.1 percentage point over the previous period (February-April); the underemployment rate held stable at 0.8%. Total labour force was 360,700 and the labour force participation rate stood at 72.0%. Total employment reached 354,400, up by 2,000 over the previous period. Analysed by industry, increase in employment was observed in Restaurants & Similar Activities and Wholesale Trade. Number of the unemployed totalled 6,400, a decrease of 600 from the previous period; fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 3.0% of the total unemployed, down by 1.2 percentage points. In comparison with March-May 2012, the labour force participation rate rose by 0.1 percentage point; the unemployment rate dropped by 0.2 percentage points, while the underemployment rate stayed unchanged.
