XN000022-1991-02-19 — Page 2

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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1991

UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT STATISTICS FOR OCT-DEC 1990 RELEASED

BOTH

UNEMPLOYMENT THE

-

RATE

THE CENSUS

RATE AND THE UNDEREMPLOYMENT

DECEMBER 1990, ACCORDING TO DECREASED DURING THE PERIOD OCTOBER LATEST LABOUR FORCE STATISTICS RELEASED TODAY (TUESDAY) BY THE AND STATISTICS DEPARTMENT.

THUS, THERE WAS APPARENTLY SOME CONDITIONS TOWARDS THE END OF THE YEAR.

THE SEASONALLY

ADJUSTED

TIGHTENING IN

LABOUR

MARKET

UNEMPLOYMENT

RATE FOR OCTOBER

DECEMBER 1990 WAS 1.4%, COMPARED WITH 1.7% FOR THE THREE MONTHS ENDING SEPTEMBER 1990 AND 1.3% FOR THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD A YEAR EARLIER.

OF

PRECEDING THE DECREASE OF 0.3 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT BELOW THE THREE-MONTH PERIOD IS STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT WHILE THE INCREASE 0.1 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT OVER THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD A YEAR EARLIER IS STATISTICALLY NOT SIGNIFICANT.

DECEMBER 1990 THE NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED PERSONS IN OCTOBER

THE THREE MONTHS WAS ESTIMATED AT 38,100, COMPARED WITH 47,100 IN ENDING SEPTEMBER 1990 AND 35,800 IN THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD OF 1989.

0.8%,

A

THE UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATE FOR OCTOBER - DECEMBER 1990 WAS

PERIOD CORRESPONDING FOR THE SAME AS THAT THE WHILE THIS WAS

FOR THE PRECEDING THREE-MONTH YEAR BARLIER, IT WAS LOWER THAN THAT PERIOD AT 1.0%.

THE DECREASE OF 0.2 OF A PERCENTAGE POINT BELOW THE THREE-MONTH PERIOD IS STATISTICALLY SIGNIFICANT.

PRECEDING

IN OCTOBER

THREE MONTHS

THE ESTIMATED NUMBER OF UNDEREMPLOYED PERSONS DECEMBER 1990 WAS 21,700, COMPARED WITH 28,800 IN THE ENDING SEPTEMBER 1990 AND 22,800 IN THE CORRESPONDING PERIOD OF 1989.

CONSISTENT

THE

THAN

MATERIAL WORK)

OF THE WITH

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 FULL-TIME WERE REGARDED AS UNDEREMPLOYED ONLY IF THEY WERE EITHER AVAILABLE FOR MORE WORK.

SEEKING OR

CENSUS AND JOB-SEEKERS MONTH то TO TAKE JOB-SEEKERS

COMMENTING ON THESE FIGURES, THE COMMISSIONER FOR STATISTICS SAID THAT BECAUSE THE PROPORTION OF FIRST-TIME (FOR EXAMPLE PEOPLE WHO HAVE JUST LEFT SCHOOL) VARIES FROM MONTH, UNEMPLOYMENT RATES THAT HAD BEEN SEASONALLY ADJUSTED

OF FIRST-TIME ACCOUNT OF THE VARIATIONS IN THE NUMBER SHOULD BE USED IN MAKING COMPARISONS OVER TIME.

PROVISIONAL

THE COMMISSIONER ADDED THAT, BASED ON A SYSTEM OF COUNTS, THE UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT RATES COVERING THE LATEST THREE-MONTH PERIOD COULD BE MADE AVAILABLE WITHIN TWO WEEKS AFTER SURVEY.

THE

/THESE PROVIDE