According to the results of the Employment Survey released by the Statistics and Census Service, unemployment rate for July - September 2006 dropped by 0.1 percentage point over June - August 2006 to 3.8%, and decreased by 0.3 percentage point over the same period of 2005. The underemployment rate was held stable at 1.0%, same as that in the preceding period, but down by 0.5 percentage point over the same period of 2005. About 1,400 unemployed persons were searching for their first job, representing 13.5% of the total unemployed population, up by 2.1 percentage points over the preceding period. Compared with the previous period, the unemployment situation was improved in Real estate, renting & business activities; Transport, storage & communications; and Hotels, restaurants & similar activities, but the situation was less favourable in the Construction sector. Total labour force was estimated at 282,000 in July - September 2006, of which the employed and the unemployed populations were 271,000 and 11,000 respectively. Labour force participation rate was 65.9%, down slightly by 0.1 percentage point over June - August 2006, but up by 2.5 percentage points over the same period of 2005. Administrative information from the Labour Affairs Bureau and the Public Security Police indicated that number of non-resident workers with working permits totalled 56,553 at the end of September 2006, an increase of 12.6% over June. Further information on non-resident workers by industry are shown in the attached table.
