THE ECONOMY
by the expansion in education and welfare services. Employment in the retail trade, in restaurants and hotels, and in water transport, air transport and services allied to transport had modest increases, by 1 to 2 per cent. Employment in financing, insurance, real estate and business services was virtually unchanged.
The local manufacturing sector faced a further marked reduction in employment, by 9 per cent in September 2001 over a year earlier. This was even larger than the fall of 7 per cent and 8 per cent respectively in March and June. The setback in domestic exports and ongoing relocation of manufacturing processes to the Mainland were the major contributory factors.
Employment of manual workers at building and construction sites dropped by 5 per cent in September 2001 over a year earlier, sharply reversing the increases of 18 per cent in March and 1 per cent in June. This was attributable entirely to the severe decline of 24 per cent in employment at public sector sites, upon the completion or winding down of several major public housing projects and the further scaling back in the Public Housing Programme. It more than offset the 18 per cent rise in employment at private sector sites, brought about by a pick-up in private sector building activity. Taking into account off-site workers and related professional and support staff, total employment in the building and construction sector as a whole shrank by 3 per cent in the third quarter of 2001 over a year earlier, following a rise of 2 per cent in the first quarter and a fall of 5 per cent in the second quarter (Chart 12).
Chart 12
Employment by broad economic sector
Number ('000)
2500
Service sectors as a whole
(left scale)
2.000
1 500
1 000
500
Building and construction sites
(right scale)
Number ('000)
100
90
80
70
60
Manufacturing sector (left scale)
50
0
40
M J SD M J SD M
J
SDM
1996
1997
1998
J SD M
1999
JSD M J S
2000
2001
56
Employment moderated across all the broad economic sectors, especially in the latter part of 2001, consequential to the downturn in economic activity.
Labour income registered a modest increase in the first three quarters of 2001, mainly attributable to the pay rise made at the beginning of the year on the basis of improved business conditions in 2000. Overall labour earnings in the private sector