FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 1985
THE NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED PERSONS IN THE QUARTER ENDING APRIL 1985 WAS ESTIMATED TO BE 84 400, AS COMPARED WITH 90 600 FOR THE QUARTER ENDING JANUARY 1985 AND 103 800 FOR THE SAME QUARTER OF 1994.
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APRIL 1985 WAS 1.1 THE UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE FOR FEBRUARY PER CENT, AS COMPARED WITH THE RATE OF 1.0 PER CENT FOR THE PREVIOUS QUARTER. THE RATE FOR FEBRUARY - APRIL 1984 WAS 1.2 PER CENT. THE CHANGES IN THE UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE OVER THE RESPECTIVE QUARTERS WERE STATISTICALLY NOT SIGNIFICANT.
THE ESTIMATED NUMBER OF UNDEREMPLOYED PERSONS FOR THE QUARTER ENDING APRIL 1985 WAS 28 300, AS COMPARED WITH 27 100 FOR THE QUARTER ENDING JANUARY 1985 AND 31 200 FOR FEBRUARY - APRIL 1984. CONSISTENT WITH THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION, PERSONS WHO WORKED LESS THAN 35 HOURS A WEEK WERE REGARDED AS UNDEREMPLOYED ONLY IF THEY WERE SEEKING MORE WORK OR WERE NOT SEEKING MORE WORK BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED MORE WORK WAS NOT AVAILABLE.
COMMENTING UPON THESE FIGURES, THE COMMISSIONER SAID THAT BECAUSE THE PROPORTION OF FIRST-TIME JOB SEEKERS (E.G. PEOPLE WHO HAVE JUST LEFT SCHOOL) VARIED FROM MONTH TO MONTH, THE UN EMPLOYMENT RATES WHICH HAD BEEN SEASON ALLY ADJUSTED FOR THE VARIATION IN FIRST-TIME JOB SEEKERS SHOULD BE USED IN MAKING COMPARISONS OVER TIME.
HE ADDED THAT BASED ON A SYSTEM OF MANUAL EXTRACTION OF INFORMATION FROM SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES FOR THE LATEST MONTH, PROVISIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATES COVERING THE LATEST MOVING THREE-MONTH PERIOD COULD BE MADE AVAILABLE WITHIN TWO WEEKS AFTER THE SURVEY. THESE PROVIDE AN INDICATION OF THE LATEST TREND IN THE UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT SITUATION. THE PROVISIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE (NOT SEASONALLY ADJUSTED) FOR MARCH MAY 1985 WAS 3.1 PER CENT, AND THE PROVISIONAL UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE WAS 1.0 PER CENT. THE UNADJUSTED
UN EMPLOYMENT RATE FOR FEBRUARY - APRIL 1985 WAS ALSO 3.1 PER CENT.
THE UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT STATISTICS WERE OBTAINED FROM A CONTINUOUS GENERAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY (GHS) CONDUCTED BY THE DEPARTMENT, THE SURVEY COVERS A QUARTERLY SAMPLE OF SOME 14 000 HOUSEHOLDS OR 53 000 PERSONS, SELECTED SCIENTIFICALLY TO REPRESENT THE LAND-BASED CIVILIAN NON- INSTITUTIONAL POPULATION IN HONG KONG. PERSONAL AND LABOUR FORCE DATA WERE OBTAINED IN THE SURVEY BY INTERVIEWING EACH INDIVIDUAL MEMBER AGED 15 AND ABOVE IN THE HOUSEHOLD SAMPLED. IN THE SURVEY, THE DEFINITIONS USED IN MEASURING UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT FOLLOW CLOSELY THOSE RECOMMENDED BY THE ILO.
THE COMMISSIONER