XN000022-1988-07-14 — Page 22

THURSDAY, JULY 14, 1988

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THE NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED PERSONS IN MARCH

MAY 1988 WAS ESTIMATED AT 47,700, COMPARED WITH 44,600 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING FEBRUARY 1988 AND 50,500 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING MAY 1987.

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THE UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE FOR MARCH MAY 1988 WAS 0.8 PER CENT, WHICH WAS THE SAME AS THAT FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING FEBRUARY 1988. THE RATE FOR MARCH MAY 1987 WAS 1.1 PER CENT.

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THE DECREASE OF 0.3 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT BELOW THE SAME PERIOD A YEAR EARLIER IS STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT.

THE ESTIMATED NUMBER OF UNDEREMPLOYED PERSONS FOR MARCH 1988 WAS 22,600, COMPARED WITH 22,700 FOR THE THREE MONTHS FEBRUARY 1988 AND 29,600 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING MAY 1987.

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MAY ENDING

THE

CONSISTENT WITH THE CURRENT RECOMMENDATIONS OF INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION (ILO), PERSONS WHO WORKED LESS THIAN 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 WERF EITHER SEEKING OR AVAILABLE FOR MORE WORK.

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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 ΤΟ MONTH, UNEMPLOYMENT RATES THAT HAD BEEN SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ΤΟ TAKE ACCOUNT OF THE VARIATIONS IN THE NUMBER OF FIRST-TIME JOB-SEEKERS SHOULD BE USED IN MAKING COMPARISONS OVER TIME.

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 TREND IN THE UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT SITUATION. THE

PROVISIONAL SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATE FOR APRIL JUNE 1988 WAS 1.8 PER CENT AND THE PROVISIONAL UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE WAS 0.7 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 49,000 PERSONS, SELECTED SCIENTIFICALLY TO REPRESENT THE LAND-BASED CIVILIAN NON-INSTITUTIONAL POPULATION HONG KONG.

IN

BY

PERSONAL AND LABOUR FORCE DATA WERE OBTAINED IN THE SURVEY 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 BY THE ILO.

DETAILED ANALYSIS OF 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 JUNE 1988 SHOULD BE AVAILABLE FROM THE GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS CENTRE,

CONNAUGHT PLACE, CENTRAL, AROUND SEPTEMBER 20 AT $10 PER COPY.

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