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SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 1988

PERSONS FOR APRIL-JUNE THE ESTIMATED NUMBER OF UNDEREMPLOYED

THE THREE MONTHS ENDING 1988 WAS 18,900, COMPARED WITH 25,200 FOR MARCH 1988 AND 29,500 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING JUNE 1987.

OF

THE THAN MATERIAL, FULL-TIME WORK) WERE EITHER SEEKING OR

CONSISTENT WITH THE CURRENT RECOMMENDATIONS INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION (ILO), PERSONS WHO WORKED LESS 35 HOURS A WEEK DUE TO ECONOMIC REASONS (SUCH AS SLACK WORK, SHORTAGE, MECHANICAL BREAKDOWN AND INABILITY TO FIND WERE REGARDED AS UNDEREMPLOYED ONLY IF THEY AVAILABLE FOR MORE WORK.

FOR CENSUS AND COMMENTING ON THESE FIGURES, THE COMMISSIONER

JOB SEEKERS STATISTICS SAID THAT BECAUSE THE PROPORTION OF FIRST-TIME

MONTH TO (FOR EXAMPLE, PEOPLE WHO HAVE JUST LEFT SCHOOL) VARIES FROM

ADJUSTED TO TAKE MONTH, UNEMPLOYMENT RATES THAT HAD BEEN SEASONALLY

THE ACCOUNT OF THE VARIATIONS IN

NUMBER OF FIRST-TIME JOB SEEKERS SHOULD BE USED IN MAKING COMPARISONS OVER TIME.

OF PROVISIONAL

COVERING THE WITHIN TWO WEEKS

THE COMMISSIONER ADDED THAT, BASED ON A SYSTEM

UNEMPLOYMENT COUNTS,

AND

RATES THE

UNDEREMPLOYMENT LATEST THREE MONTHS PERIOD COULD BE MADE AVAILABLE AFTER THE SURVEY.

THESE PROVIDE AN EARLY INDICATION OF THE LATEST UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT SITUATION.

TREND IN THE

UNEMPLOYMENT

AND THE PROVISIONAL

RATE FOR UNDEREMPLOYMENT

THE PROVISIONAL SEASONALLY ADJUSTED MAY-JULY 1988 WAS 1.7 PER CENT RATE WAS 0.6 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

OF

SOME

14.000 TO REPRESENT

SAMPLE QUARTERLY

SCIENTIFICALLY SELECTED HOUSEHOLDS OR 49,000 PERSONS, THE LAND-BASED CIVILIAN NON-INSTITUTIONAL POPULATION IN HONG KONG.

INTERVIEWING

INDIVIDUAL

BURVEY BY ABOVE IN THE

PERSONAL AND LABOUR FORCE DATA WERE OBTAINED IN THE

MEMBER AGED 15 AND FACH HOUSEHOLDS SAMPLED.

MEASURING UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE SURVEY, THE DEFINITIONS USED IN AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT FOLLOW CLOSELY THOSE RECOMMENDED BY THE ILO.

GIVEN IN

DETAILED ANALYSIS OF LABOUR FORCE CHARACTERISTICS IS

WHICH IS PUBLISHED FOUR THE REPORT ON THE GENERAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY TIMES A YEAR.

JUNE 1988 SHOULD GPO BUILDING,

THE NEXT REPORT COVERING THE QUARTER ENDING BE AVAILABLE FROM THE GOVERNMENT PUBLICATIONS CENTRE, CONNAUGHT PLACE, CENTRAL, AROUND SEPTEMBER 20 AT $10 PER COPY.

O

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