XN000022-1997-04-23 — Page 85

-

68

-

In the decoration and maintenance sub-sector, employment conditions tend to be more closely linked to the level of activity in the property market. As trading in the property market picked up noticeably along with the improved sentiment in 1996, both the unemployment and underemployment rates in the decoration and maintenance sub-sector fell steadily over the course of the year. But as employment conditions in the early part of last year were still affected by the earlier sluggishness in the property market, for 1996 as a whole, the decoration and maintenance sub-sector still recorded a relatively higher unemployment rate of 4.9%.

In the clothing and footwear sub-sector, the relatively higher unemployment rate primarily reflects the on-going relocation of the more labour-intensive and lower value-added production processes outside Hong Kong, which has the effect of dampening local employment opportunities. In 1996, employment conditions in this sub- sector were aggravated by the slack export performance.