Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for May-July 2014 held stable at 1.7% for seven consecutive periods; the underemployment rate dropped further to 0.3%, down by 0.1 percentage point compared with April-June. Total labour force was 393,600 and the labour force participation rate rose by 0.4 percentage points from April-June, at 73.8%. Total employment was 387,000, an increase of 3,400 from April-June. Employment in the Construction sector surged by 3,100 and Hotels, Restaurants & Similar Activities increased by 1,400. Number of the unemployed was 6,700, up by 200 from April-June. With fresh graduates joining the labour market, fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job increased by 3.0 percentage points to account for 18.0% of the total unemployed. In comparison with May-July 2013, the labour force participation rate rose by 1.2 percentage points, while the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate dropped by 0.2 and 0.4 percentage points respectively.
