TNAG-1267-FCO40-1616-Economic-situation-in-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 230

1.3

to

markets

Domestic demand,

however, was still weak in the

first half. The slowdown in wage increases (paragraphs 4.14

4.16) and the uncertain stock and depressed property

have apparently curtailed

consumer spending. Nevertheless, statistics on retained imports of consumer goods suggest that consumer demand may have picked up slightly in the second quarter (parpagraph 2.12). Retained imports of

capital goods, however, continued to decline in the second

quarter, albeit at a slower rate than in the preceding quarter

(paragraph 2.12). Thus, on present indications, economic

growth in 1983 will be export-led.

The demand for and supply of domestic resources

1.4

With the gradual recovery of the economy, the trend

of rising unemployment and underemployment rates, which started in the second quarter of 1982, was reversed in

in the

second quarter of this year (paragraph 4.1). Both the demand for labour and the supply of labour increased slightly during the first half (paragraphs 4.6 and 4.7). Output per head appears to have continued to rise (paragraph 4.8).

1.5

Comparing March 1983 with March 1982, employment in

the manufacturing and building and construction sectors

declined, while employment in the tertiary services sectors

rose. Nevertheless, manufacturing employment remained stable during the first quarter of this year (paragraph 4.10). In

the twelve months to March 1983, manufacturing and

construction wage rates increased in money terms but declined

in real terms; whereas wages and salaries in the tertiary services sectors, in terms of payroll per person engaged, rose in both money terms and real terms (paragraph 4.3).

2

/1.6 In the

...