15
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In terms of the number of persons engaged, the wholesale, retail and import/export trades, restaurants and hotels sector was the largest, employing 1,031,600 persons in June 1996. This was followed by the financing, insurance, real estate and business services sector, with an employment of 386,900; the manufacturing sector, 336,700; the community, social and personal services sector, 310,100; and the transport, storage and communications sector, 176,300. Also, there were 72,600 manual workers at construction sites.
In terms of percentage changes, employment at construction sites (for manual workers only) continued to show a notable year-on-year increase, by 13.4% in June 1996. This was followed by employment in the transport, storage and communications sector, rising by 6%; the community, social and personal services sector, by 4.9%; the financing, insurance, real estate and business services sector, by 3.5%; and the wholesale, retail and import/export trades, restaurants and hotels sector, by 0.7%. On the other hand, employment in the manufacturing sector fell further, by 15.4%. The respective employment figures are shown in greater detail in Table 1.
As regards the vacancy situation in individual sectors, the wholesale, retail and import/export trades, restaurants and hotels sector had the largest number of vacancies, at a level of 19,980 in June 1996. This was followed by the financing, insurance, real estate and business services sector, with 8,970 vacancies; the community, social and personal services sector, 8,320 vacancies; the manufacturing sector, 5,860 vacancies; and the transport, storage and communications sector, 2,870 vacancies. Also, there were 1,520 vacancies for manual workers at construction sites. Except for the community, social and personal services sector which registered a year-on-year increase of 3.6% in the number of vacancies in June 1996, vacancies in other sectors surveyed and at construction sites all dropped by varying extent in June 1996 when compared with a year earlier. Job vacancy figures are shown in greater detail in Table 2.
Of the total of some 47,500 vacancies (other than those in the Civil Service) recorded in June 1996, the majority fell into four major occupation groups, viz. associate professionals; clerks; service workers and shop sales workers; and elementary occupations. They together accounted for about three-quarters of the total number of vacancies in all the major sectors surveyed.
Beginning from the reference month of June 1996, year-on-year comparison of vacancies by major occupation group is available. In terms of percentage changes, vacancies in the major occupation group managers and administrators increased by 38.1% in June 1996 over June 1995; professionals, by 16.5%; and service workers and shop sales workers, by 9.1%. On the other hand, vacancies in the major occupation group craft and related workers decreased by 27.6%. This was followed by plant and machine operators and assemblers, by 21.2%; clerks, by 15.3%; associate professionals, by 12.1%; and elementary occupations, by 7.7%. Vacancy figures broken down by major occupation group are shown in Table 3.