THE ECONOMY
sites fell by 3 per cent. The substantial decline in employment at civil engineering sites following completion of the Airport Core Programme was not fully offset by the increase in employment at building sites along with continued work under the Public Housing Programme.
Chart 10
Employment by broad economic sector
Number ('000)
Number ('000)
2500
100
2000
Service sectors as a whole (left scale)
1500
Building and construction sites (right scale)
1000
500
0
Manufacturing sector (left scale)
Mar Jun Sep Dec Mar Jun Sep Dec Mar Jun Sep Dec Mar Jun Sep Dec Mar Jun Sep Dec Mar Jun Sep
1993
1996 I 1997
1998
1994
1995
The structural shift in employment from manufacturing to services continued in 1998.
90
80
70
680
50
40
The loosening in manpower resource balance also led to a moderation in earnings and wages. Overall earnings rose by 3 per cent in money terms in the third quarter of 1998 over a year earlier. Overall wages had a broadly similar rise, by 2 per cent in money terms in September 1998 over a year earlier. Both were distinctly slower than the increases of 11 per cent and 7 per cent in the third quarter of 1997. Moreover, they reflected largely the pay rises in the early part of 1998, when many companies still granted annual pay increase. Since then, earnings and wages were contained by continued slackening in the labour market.
The Property Market
The residential property market underwent a severe downturn during the first 10 months of 1998, overshadowed by rising unemployment, moderated income, higher mortgage rate, and generally cautious mortgage lending by the banks. The substantial price cuts and intensive marketing strategy adopted by developers in the primary market induced considerable downward pressure in the secondary market. As prices dipped, cases of forfeiture of deposit and resale at a loss were widely reported. Yet market sentiment improved noticeably since October, upon stabilisation in the regional and local financial markets and successive cuts in local interest rates.
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