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SATURDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1989

THE SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATE 1989 WAS 1.3 PER CENT, COMPARED WITH 1.5 PER MONTHS ENDING MAY 1989 AND 1.8 PER CENT FOR THE A YEAR EARLIER.

FOR JUNE

AUGUST

CENT FOR THE THREE CORRESPONDING PERIOD

THE DECREASE OF 0.2 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT BELOW THE PRECEDING THREE-MONTH PERIOD IS STATISTICALLY NOT SIGNIFICANT WHILE THE DECREASE OF 0.5 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT BELOW THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD A YEAR EARLIER IS STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT.

—

AUGUST 1989

JUNE THE NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED PERSONS IN

WAS ESTIMATED AT 36,700, COMPARED WITH 40,300 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING MAY 1989 AND 49,100 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING AUGUST 1988.

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THE UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE FOR JUNE

1989 AUGUST

WAS 0.6 PER CENT, COMPARED WITH 0.9 PER CENT FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING MAY 1989. THE RATE FOR JUNE AUGUST 1988 WAS 0.6 PER CENT. THE DECREASE OF 0.3 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT BELOW THE PRECEDING THREE-MONTH PERIOD 19 STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT.

ד

THE ESTIMATED NUMBER OF UNDEREMPLOYED PERSONS FOR JUNE AUGUST 1989 WAS 17,500, COMPARED WITH 25,800 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING MAY 1989 AND 16,500 FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING AUGUST 1988.

CONSISTENT WITH THE CURRENT RECOMMENDATIONS OF

THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANISATION (ILO), PERSONS WHO WORKED LESS THAN 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 WERE RITHER SEEKING OR AVAILABLE FOR MORE WORK.

CENSUS AND JOB-SEEKERS MONTH ΤΟ

COMMENTING ON THESE FIGURES, THE COMMISSIONER FOR STATISTICS SAID THAT BECAUSE THE PROPORTION OF FIRST-TIME I FOR EXAMPLE PEOPLE WHO HAVE JUST LEFT SCHOOL) VARIES FROM MONTH, UNEMPLOYMENT RATES THAT HAD BEEN SEASONALLY ADJUSTED ACCOUNT OF THE VARIATIONS IN THE NUMBER OF FIRST-TIME SHOULD BE USED IN MAKING COMPARISONS OVER TIME.

TO TAKE

JOB SEEKERS

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 UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT SITUATION.

THE PROVISIONAL SEASONALLY ADJUSTED UNEMPLOYMENT RATE FOR JULY SEPTEMBER 1989 WAS 1.4 PER CENT AND THE PROVISIONAL UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE WAS 0.6 PER CENT.

WERE OBTAINED

THE UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT STATISTICS FROM A CONTINUOUS GENERAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEY CONDUCTED BY THE CENSUS AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT. THIS SURVEY COVERED A QUARTERLY SAMPLE SOME 14,000 HOUSEHOLDS OR 51,000 PERSONS, SELECTED SCIENTIFICALLY REPRESENT THE LAND-BASED CIVILIAN NON-INSTITUTIONAL POPULATION HONG KONG.

OF

ΤΟ

IN

/PERSONAL AND