TNAG-1267-FCO40-1616-Economic-situation-in-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 103

arising from retrenchment

dropped

significantly in the

third quarter. The number of retrenched workers reported at 1 375 in the third quarter,

to the Labour Department,

was 54% lower than in the same period last year.

Employment by sectors

4.6

Comparing June 1983 with March 1983, employment

in the manufacturing sector increased by 6% to reach

903 400, which was about the same as that recorded in June

1982. The increase was concentrated mainly in the electronics and plastics industries. Although the number of vacancies decreased by 15% over March 1983, it showed a

substantial increase of 22% over June 1982.

4.7

The fall in employment on building and

construction (including civil engineering) sites

continued. Employment in June

June 1983, at 74 400, was 3%

lower than in March 1983 and 12% lower than in June 1982.

Reflecting the depressed state of the property market, the decrease was concentrated on private building sites, where employment dropped by 28% during the twelve months ending June this year. While employment on public building sites

rose slightly by 1%, employment on civil engineering sites, largely due to the construction of the MTR Island Line, rose by 17% over the same period.

4.8

Within the tertiary services sectors, employment

in the finance, insurance, real estate and business

services sector, at 163 300 in June 1983, was 1% lower

than in March 1983 and in June 1982. Employment in

restaurants and hotels and in the wholesale, retail and

import/export trades, however, continued to grow by 6% and 3% respectively during the twelve months ending June this year. For the tertiary services sectors as a whole, there was an increase of 3%. Employment in the civil service also grew, by 5% over the same period, compared with an increase of 10% in the twelve months ending December 1982.

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