EMPLOYMENT
unemployment rate for the third quarter of 1999 was 6.1 per cent while the underemployment rate was 3.1 per cent, compared with 5 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively a year earlier.
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Of those employed, the majority (81.7 per cent) were engaged in the service sectors 31.5 per cent in wholesale, retail and import/export trades, restaurants and hotels; 11.6 per cent in transport, storage and communications; 14.5 per cent in financing, insurance, real estate and business services; and 24 per cent in community, social and personal services. About 7.7 per cent worked in the manufacturing sector. A structural shift during the past decade has meant establishments in the service sectors now employ about eight times as many workers as the manufacturing sector. In September 1999, 1 920 000 persons were engaged in establishments in the various service sectors (not including most of the self-employed and those engaged in the provision of personal services), 4.5 per cent higher than the corresponding figure in 1998. Only 244 500 persons were engaged in manufacturing sector establishments. (excluding outworkers), a decrease of 4.9 per cent compared with a year earlier.
The Employees Retraining Board (ERB) was set up in 1992 to provide retraining to eligible persons to assist them in taking on new and enhanced skills so that they can adjust to changes in economic environment and rejoin the workforce. Since its inception, ERB has trained over 350 000 persons through its various training programmes by the end of November.
The import and export trade was the largest employer in the service sectors, with 507 500 workers in September. Other major service industry groups include the retail trade, restaurants and business services, which had 206 000, 184 400 and 160 600 employees respectively.
Despite declining employment, the clothing industry remained the largest manufacturing industry, employing 58 400 persons in September. The printing and publishing industry and the electronics industry were the next two largest groups of industries in the manufacturing sector, employing 44 000 and 25 500 persons, respectively. Details of the distribution of establishments and persons engaged by selected major industry groups are given in the Appendices.
Wages
Wage rates are calculated on a time basis, either daily or monthly, or on an incentive basis according to the volume of work performed. The average wage rate for employees up to the supervisory level, including daily-rated and monthly-rated employees, fell by 0.8 per cent in money terms between September 1998 and September 1999. After discounting for changes in consumer prices, the average wage rate increased by 4.4 per cent in real terms.
In September 1999, the average monthly wage rate for the supervisory, technical, clerical and miscellaneous non-production workers in the wholesale, retail and import/export trades, restaurants and hotels sector was $11,700. Based on the wage indices, the average wage rate for this group fell by 0.2 per cent in money terms, but increased by 4.9 per cent in real terms, compared with the same period of 1998.
Over the same period, the average wage rate in the manufacturing sector fell by 0.6 per cent in money terms, but rose by 4.6 per cent in real terms. At the craftsman and operative levels in the manufacturing sector, 75 per cent of workers received a daily wage of $250 or more in September 1999; while 25 per cent received $410 or more.
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