Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for June-August 2012 held stable at 2.0% in comparison with the previous period (May-July 2012); the underemployment rate was 0.8%, down by 0.1 percentage point. Total labour force increased to 351,000; the labour force participation rate stood at 72.3%, up by 0.1 percentage point over the previous period. Total employment reached 344,000, up by 2,400 from May-July 2012. Analysed by industry, employment of Hotels, Restaurants & Similar Activities and the Manufacturing Sector saw increase. Number of the unemployed was similar to the previous period, at 7,000 in June-August 2012; besides, fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 21.9% of the unemployed, an increase of 7.0 percentage points caused by school graduates entering the labour market. In comparison with June-August 2011, both the labour force participation rate and the unemployment rate decreased by 0.7 percentage point; the underemployment rate also went down by 0.1 percentage point.
