XN000022-1985-01-14 — Page 13

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MONDAY, JANUARY 14, 1985

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THE UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE FOR SEPTEMBER NOVEMBER 1984 WAS 1.0 PER CENT. AS COMPARED WITH THE RATE OF 0.9 PER CENT FOR THE PREVIOUS QUARTER. THE RATE FOR THE SAME QUARTER OF 1983 WAS 1.6 PER CENT. THE ESTIMATED NUMBER OF UNDEREMPLOYED PERSONS AT 24 900 FOR THE QUARTER ENDING NOVEMBER 1984, WAS ROUGHLY THE SAME AS THE 24 500 FOR THE QUARTER ENDING AUGUST 1984, BUT WAS MUCH LOWER THAN THE 40 000 FOR THE SAME QUARTER OF 1983.

THE DECREASES IN THE UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE AND IN THE NUMBER OF UNDEREMPLOYED PERSONS OVER THE YEAR WERE BOTH STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT.

CONSISTENT WITH THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION, PERSONS WHO WORKED LESS THAN 35 HOURS A WEEK WERE REGARDED AS UNDEREMPLOYED ONLY IF THEY WERE SEEKING MORE WORK OR WERE NOT SEEKING MORE WORK BECAUSE THEY BELIEVED MORE WORK WAS NOT AVAILABLE.

COMMENTING UPON THESE FIGURES, THE COMMISSIONER FOR CENSUS AND STATISTICS SAID THAT BECAUSE THE PROPORTION OF FIRST-TIME JOB-SEEKERS (E.G. PEOPLE WHO HAVE JUST LEFT SCHOOL) VARIED FROM MONTH TO MONTH, THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATES WHICH HAD BEEN SEASONALLY ADJUSTED FOR THE VARIATION IN FIRST-TIME JOB-SEEKERS SHOULD BE USED IN MAKING COMPARISONS OVER TIME.

HE ADDED THAT BASED ON A SYSTEM OF MANUAL EXTRACTION OF INFORMATION FROM SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRES FOR THE LATEST MONTH, PROVISIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATES COVERING THE LATEST MOVING THREE-MONTH PERIOD COULD BE MADE AVAILABLE WITHIN TWO WEEKS AFTER THE SURVEY.

THE PROVISIONAL UNEMPLOYMENT RATE (NOT SEASONALLY ADJUSTED) FOR OCTOBER - DECEMBER 1984 WAS 4.0 PER CENT, AND THE PROVISIONAL UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE WAS 0.8 PER CENT. THE UNADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATE FOR SEPTEMBER - NOVEMBER 1984 WAS 4.2 PER CENT.

THE UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT STATISTICS WERE OBTAINED FROM A CONTINUOUS GENERAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY CONDUCTED BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT. THIS SURVEY COVERS A QUARTERLY SAMPLE OF SOME 14 000 HOUSEHOLDS OR 53 000 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 HOUSEHOLD SAMPLED.

DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE LABOUR FORCE CHARACTERISTICS IS GIVEN IN THE REPORT ON THE GENERAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY WHICH IS PUBLISHED FOUR TIMES A YEAR. THE NEXT REPORT COVERING THE QUARTER ENDING DECEMBER 1984 SHOULD BE AVAILABLE FROM THE GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS CENTRE LATE IN MARCH.

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