3
The Economy
The increasing service orientation of the economy was also borne out by a shift in the sectoral composition of employment. Over the past two decades, the share of the services sector in total employment increased from 69 per cent in 1992 to 85 per cent in 2002 and 88 per cent in 2012. As for individual service segments, import/export trade and wholesale, retail, accommodation and food services accounted for 32 per cent of the total in 2012. This was followed by public administration, social and personal services with a share of 26 per cent; financing and insurance, real estate, professional and business services, 19 per cent; transportation, storage, postal and courier services, information and communications, 12 per cent (Chart 6).
Chart 6
Employment by Major Sector
Transport, storage and
communications
10.3%
Finance, insurance,
1992
2012
Wholesale, retail and import/export trades,
Import/export,
wholesale and retail trades, accommodation and
restaurants and hotels
31.8%
Other sectors 319%
food services 32%
Other sectors 11.6%
Transportation, storage, postal and courier services,
Financing and insurance, real estate, professional and
Public administration,
social and
personal
real estate
and business
services
8.1%
Community, social and personal services 18.8%
information and
communications
11.5%
business services 19.2%
services
25.6%
Import/export trade and wholesale, retail, accommodation and food services employed the most people in 2012.
Notes: The compilation methodology of composite employment estimates was reviewed in June 2005. Employment figures from 1996 onwards have thus been revised accordingly. They are not strictly comparable with those of earlier years.
Starting from the first quarter of 2009, industrial classification of employment has adopted the Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification Version 2.0 while that in the previous years is based on Version 1.1.
The Manufacturing Sector
Hong Kong's manufacturing sector continues to be versatile and resilient in coping with the changing global and regional economic landscapes. Thanks to the increased manufacturing arrangements in the Mainland and other neighbouring economies with lower land and labour costs, not only has Hong Kong's productive capacity been effectively expanded, its overall productive efficiency and product quality have also seen significant upgrading along with technological advancement and a shift towards production with a more knowledge-based and higher value-added content. It is also worth noting that although the direct value-added contribution of the manufacturing sector to the economy is not large relative to the services
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