TNAG-1267-FCO40-1616-Economic-situation-in-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 267

he order-book positions reported by

by a selection of large

manufacturers in the monthly survey on employment, payroll and orders-on-hand(8)

some increase probably

suggests that

occurred in manufacturing employment during the second quarter.

4.11

Employment on building and construction

(including

civil engineering) sites continued to decline steadily.

Employment in March 1983 was 76 400, 12% lower than in March

1982 and 78 lower than in December 1982. The decrease

occurred in both public (9)

and private building sites, where

employment dropped by 10% and 21% respectively during the twelve months ending March this year. Employment on civil

engineering sites (including those of the Mass Transit Railway), however, continued to rise

to rise fairly rapidly, by 11%,

during this period.

4.12

Within the tertiary services sectors, employment

generally continued to increase at a moderate rate. Employment in the finance, insurance, real estate and business

services sector, at 164 500 in March 1983, was 4% higher than

in March 1982; but it was slightly lower compared with

December 1982. Employment in restaurants and hotels grew by

5% to 160 700 during the twelve months ending March, while employment in the wholesale, retail and import/export trades grew by 6% to 356 600. Employment in the civil service rose by 5% over the same period, compared with an increase of 10%

in the twelve months ending December 1982.

/4.13 The

...

(8) For details, see footnote (3) in Chapter 2.

(9)

The decrease in employment on public building sites during the first quarter was in large part due to the exceptionally rainy weather during this period.

39