54 The Economy
the employment growth by a considerable margin in all four quarters of 2009, the differential between them began to narrow from mid-year (Chart 12).
Chart 11
The Unemployment and Underemployment Rates
Per cent
9
8
7
6
5
Seasonally adjusted unemployment rate
4
3
Underemployment rate
2
1
0
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Chart 12
Unemployment rate peaked in mid-2009 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and came down successively for the rest of the year.
Total Labour Force and Total Employment
(year-on-year rate of change)
Per cent
4
3
2
1
0
Total employment
Total labour force
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1
2005
2006
Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2007 │ 2008
2009
The differential between labour demand and supply improved towards the latter part of 2009.
Job vacancies in private sector establishments increased by 7.5 per cent year-on-year in December 2009, a significant improvement from the marked decrease of 50.6 per cent in March. Concurrently, the ratio of job vacancies per 100