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MONDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1990
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AUGUST
THE ESTIMATED NUMBER OF UNDEREMPLOYED PERSONS IN JUNE 1990 WAS 26,200, COMPARED WITH 26,900 IN THE THREE MONTHS ENDING MAY 1990 AND 17,500 IN THE THREE MONTHS ENDING AUGUST 1989.
CONSISTENT WITH
OF
THE CURRENT RECOMMENDATIONS
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-TIME WORK) WERE REGARDED AS UNDEREMPLOYED ONLY IF THEY WERE EITHER SEEKING OR AVAILABLE FOR MORE WORK.
COMMENTING ON THESE FIGURES, THE COMMISSIONER FOR CENSUS AND STATISTICS SAID IT IS BECAUSE THE PROPORTION OF FIRST-TIME JOB-SEEKERS (E.G. PEOPLE WHO HAVE JUST LEFT SCHOOL) VARIES FROM MONTH то MONTH, UNEMPLOYMENT RATES THAT HAD BEEN SEASONALLY ADJUSTED TO TAKE ACCOUNT THE VARIATIONS IN THE NUMBER OF FIRST-TIME JOB-SEEKERS SHOULD BE USED IN MAKING COMPARISONS OVER TIME.
OF
COUNTS,
THE COMMISSIONER SAID BASED ON A SYSTEM OF PROVISIONAL THE UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATES COVERING THE LATEST THREE- MONTH PERIOD COULD BE MADE AVAILABLE WITHIN TWO WEEKS AFTER THE SURVEY. THESE PROVIDE AN EARLY INDICATION OF THE LATEST UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT SITUATION.
THE PROVISIONAL SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATE FOR JULY SEPTEMBER 1990 WAS 1.7 PER CENT AND THE PROVISIONAL UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE WAS ONE PER CENT.
THE UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT STATISTICS WERE OBTAINED FROM A CONTINUOUS GENERAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY CONDUCTED BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT.
THE SURVEY FOR JUNE - AUGUST 1990 COVERED A QUARTERLY SAMPLE OF SOME 11,500 HOUSEHOLDS OR 41,000 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 HOUSEHOLDS SAMPLED.
IN THE SURVEY, THE DEFINITIONS USED IN MEASURING UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT FOLLOW CLOSELY THOSE RECOMMENDED BY THE ILO.
DETAILED ANALYSIS OF LABOUR FORCE CHARACTERISTICS IS GIVEN IN THE REPORT ON THE GENERAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY WHICH IS PUBLISHED FOUR TIMES A YEAR.
BE
THE NEXT REPORT COVERING THE QUARTER ENDING SEPTEMBER 1990 WILL AVAILABLE FROM THE GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS CENTRE, GROUND FLOOR, GENERAL POST OFFICE BUILDING, CONNAUGHT PLACE, CENTRAL DECEMBER 20, 1990 AT $11.50 PER COPY.
AROUND
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