THE DECREASE OF 0.2 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT BELOW THE PRECEDING THREE-MONTH PERIOD AND THE INCREASE OF 0.1 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT OVER THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD A YEAR EARLIER ARE BOTH STATISTICALLY
SIGNIFICANT.
NOT
WAS
THE NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED PERSONS IN AUGUST - OCTOBER 1990 ESTIMATED AT 42,300, COMPARED WITH 46,700 IN THE THREE MONTHS ENDING JULY 1990 AND 37,600 IN THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD IN 1989.
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THE UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE FOR AUGUST OCTOBER 1990 WAS 1. 0 PER CENT,
WHICH WAS THE SAME AS THAT FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING JULY 1990; THAT FOR THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD OF 1989 WAS 0.6 PER CENT.
THE INCREASE OF 0.4 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT OVER THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD OF 1989 IS STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT.
THE ESTIMATED NUMBER OF UNDEREMPLOYED PERSONS IN AUGUST OCTOBER 1990 WAS 26,900, COMPARED WITH 26,800 IN THE THREE MONTHS ENDING JULY 1990 AND 17,800 IN THE THREE MONTHS ENDING OCTOBER 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 THAT BECAUSE THE PROPORTION OF FIRST-TIME JOB-SEEKERS (FOR EXAMPLE 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 SHOULD BE USED IN MAKING COMPARISONS OVER TIME.
JOB SEEKERS
THE COMMISSIONER ADDED THAT, BASED ON A SYSTEM OF PROVISIONAL COUNTS, 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 SEPTEMBER
NOVEMBER 1990 WAS 1.4 PER CENT AND THE PROVISIONAL UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE WAS 0.9 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 AUGUST
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OCTOBER 1990 COVERED A QUARTERLY SAMPLE OF SOME 11,300 HOUSEHOLDS OR 40,000 PERSONS, SELECTED SCIENTIFICALLY REPRESENT THE LAND-BASED CIVILIAN NON-INSTITUTIONAL POPULATION HONG KONG.
IN
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 THE ILO.
BY
/DETAILED ANALYSIS