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14.
Statistics digest for August now on sale
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Two feature articles trading firms with manufacturing-related functions, and the recent unemployment and underemployment situation in Hong Kong are published in the August issue of the Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics, which is now on sale.
With the opening up of China's economy, coupled with low labour and land costs there, Hong Kong manufacturers have been relocating their manufacturing processes rapidly across the border through sub-contract processing arrangement in China (SPAC).
In some cases, essentially all labour-intensive manufacturing processes are moved to China, and the local manufacturing firms have hence shifted their operational status from that of manufacturing to that of trading.
Besides, many traditional import/export firms have also become engaged in SPAC to take advantage of cheap, abundant resources in China.
There are views that manufacturing firms and trading firms with manufacturing-related functions should be considered similar for certain analytical
purposes.
The feature article, Trading firms with manufacturing-related functions, provides an updated version of the discussion of this development.
The Census and Statistics Department has been conducting the general household survey on a continuous basis since August 1981 to collect information on the labour force, unemployment and underemployment.
The feature article the recent unemployment and underemployment situation in Hong Kong aims to analyse in greater depth the latest unemployed and underemployed population of the territory.
The August 1996 issue of the Hong Kong Monthly Digest of Statistics is now on sale at $50 a copy. Apart from the above two feature articles, it contains the most up-to-date information on Hong Kong's development regarding economic growth, labour market, inflation and many other social and economic issues.