Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that both the unemployment rate (1.7%) and the underemployment rate (0.3%) for June-August 2014 remained at record low. Total labour force was 395,500 and the labour force participation rate stood at 73.9%. Total employment was 388,700, an increase of 1,700 from May-July. Analysed by industry, employment in Hotels, Restaurants & Similar Activities increased by 1,300 and that in Gaming rose by 700. Number of the unemployed was 6,800, up slightly by 100 from May-July. With fresh graduates joining the labour market, the proportion of fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job increased by 5.1 percentage points to account for 23.1% of the total unemployed. In comparison with June-August 2013, the labour force participation rate rose by 1.1 percentage points, while the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate dropped by 0.2 and 0.3 percentage points respectively.
