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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1988
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THE NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED PERSONS IN JULY SEPTEMBER 1988 WAS ESTIMATED AT 43,800, COMPARED WITH 49,400 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING JUNE 1988 AND 49,900 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING SEPTEMBER 1987.
THE UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE FOR JULY - SEPTEMBER 1988 WAS 0.6 PER CENT, COMPARED WITH 0.7 PER CENT FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING JUNE 1988. THE RATE FOR JULY - SEPTEMBER 1987 WAS 1 PER CENT.
THE DECREASE OF 0.1 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT BELOW THE PREVIOUS THREE MONTHS PERIOD IS STATISTICALLY NOT SIGNIFICANT, WHILE THE DECREASE OF 0.4 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT BELOW THE SAME PERIOD A YEAR EARLIER IS STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT.
THE ESTIMATED NUMBER OF UNDEREMPLOYED PERSONS FOR JULY SEPTEMBER 1988 WAS 15,400, COMPARED WITH 18,900 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING JUNE 1988 AND 26,800 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING SEPTEMBER 1987.
CONSISTENT WITH THE CURRENT RECOMMENDATIONS OF
THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION (ILO), PERSONS WHO WORKED LESS THAN 35 HOURS A WEEK DUE TO ECONOMIC REASONS (SUCH AS SLACK WORK, MATERIAL SHORTAGE, MECHANICAL BREAKDOWN AND INABILITY TO FIND FULL-TIMB WORK) WERE REGARDED AS UNDEREMPLOYED ONLY IF THEY WERE EITHER SEEKING OR AVAILABLE FOR MORE WORK.
CENSUS AND JOB-SEEKERS
COMMENTING ON THESE FIGURES, THE COMMISSIONER FOR STATISTICS SAID THAT BECAUSE THE PROPORTION OF FIRST-TIME (E.G. PEOPLE WHO HAVE JUST LEFT SCHOOL) VARIES FROM MONTH TO MONTH, UNEMPLOYMENT RATES THAT HAD BEEN SEASONALLY ADJUSTED TO TAKE ACCOUNT OF THE VARIATIONS IN THE NUMBER OF FIRST-TIME JOB SEEKERS SHOULD BE USED IN MAKING COMPARISONS OVER TIME.
THE COMMISSIONER ADDED THAT, BASED ON A SYSTEM OF PROVISIONAL COUNTS, THE UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATES COVERING THE LATEST THREE MONTHS PERIOD COULD BE MADE AVAILABLE WITHIN TWO WEEKS AFTER THE SURVEY,
THESE PROVIDE AN EARLY INDICATION OF THE LATEST TREND IN THE UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT SITUATION.
AUGUST
THE PROVISIONAL SEASONALLY ADJUSTED
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE FOR
OCTOBER 1988 WAS 1.5 PER CENT AND THE PROVISIONAL UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE WAS 0.6 PER CENT.
THE UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT STATISTICS WERE OBTAINED FROM A CONTINUOUS GENERAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY CONDUCTED BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT.
THIS SURVEY COVERS A QUARTERLY SAMPLE OF SOME 14,000 HOUSEHOLDS OR 50,000 PERSONS, SELECTED SCIENTIFICALLY TO REPRESENT THE LAND-BASED CIVILIAN NON-INSTITUTIONAL POPULATION IN HONG KONG.
PERSONAL AND