6 -
We also need, obviously, to chart a course for human resources development in Hong Kong for the 21st century, and that has a particular bearing on what we do about training and retraining.
Let me say a few words about the latest labour market situation. During the past ten months we have obviously seen some encouraging improvements. The provisional seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has fallen from the then high of 3.6 to 2.9 per cent. It is the first time it has fallen below 3% in the past 14 months with the number of unemployed people coming down from the peak figure of over 110,000 from August to October 1995 to around 90,000 at the latest count. The underemployment rate has also fallen gradually from 2.2% around November last year to 1.6% in the three months ending June 1996. There have been a number of factors underlining these encouraging indicators.
First there has been an across the board strengthening in demand for labour in various major service sectors as well as in the construction sector that is the one that of course was most hard hit by the unemployment problem over the past year - and that has been shown by a sustained pick-up of employment in these sectors.
Second, there has been a gradual downward adjustment in the growth rate of total labour supply towards a level close to the growth in total employment. You may remember that at the time of the last summit we had seen quite a substantial increase in the number of jobs being created in the economy, but an even larger increase in the supply of labour which was working in Hong Kong.
The number of vacancies has fallen from slightly over 50,000 in September last year to 41,300 in December, and then risen again to around 49,000 in the spring of this year, in March. And that, I suppose, indicates there are still plenty of jobs available in the market.
-
Against the decline in the number of unemployed persons and the improvement in the vacancy situation there has been a reduction in the net shortfall of vacancies over the unemployed in the labour market, mainly as a result of first a drop in the total net shortfall of vacancies over the numbers employed that has been mostly in manufacturing, restaurants and hotels and the wholesale and retail trades; second, the rise in the net surplus of vacancies over the numbers unemployed in the import/export sector, in financing, in insurance, in real estate and in business services; third, there has been a slight decrease in the net shortfall for certain jobs, including clerical jobs, service and shop sales jobs and those requiring little or no skill; and finally, there has been a noticeable increase in the surplus of vacancies in the professional, associate professional and technician categories. These improvements are obviously largely driven by general economic factors but the package of measures to tackle the unemployment problem which we promulgated during the last two summit meetings has certainly played a part in the process.