ENG-2000 — Page 174

EMPLOYMENT

134

beginning of 2000, and to 4.4 per cent at the end of the year. Vacancies registered with the Labour Department rose from 143 522 in 1999 to 174 356 in 2000. The department also placed a record number of 59 164 job-seekers in employment during the year.

Manpower Studies

During the second and third quarters, the Government conducted a broad assessment of Hong Kong's future manpower supply and requirements in terms of economic sector, occupation and education to 2005. The assessment was backed by statistical analysis and projection as well as by a household survey, a business establishment survey and a broad-level consultation with employers' associations and labour organisations to collect their views regarding local employment prospects and future training needs of workers. In addition, an academic institute was commissioned to look into the employment prospects of middle-aged workers. The reports of these two studies were published in November and the relevant findings would be used as the basis for formulating appropriate training and retraining measures.

Labour Force

In the third quarter of 2000, Hong Kong's labour force grew by 1.8 per cent over the corresponding period of 1999. The labour force stood at 3.4 million, of whom 57.9 per cent were males and 42.1 per cent were females. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the third quarter of 2000 was 4.8 per cent while the underemployment rate was 2.6 per cent, down from 6.1 per cent and 3.1 per cent respectively a year earlier.

Of those employed, the majority (82.4 per cent) were engaged in the service. sectors 33.1 per cent in wholesale, retail and import/export trades, restaurants and hotels; 23.8 per cent in community, social and personal services; 14.2 per cent in financing, insurance, real estate and business services; and 11.4 per cent in transport, storage and communications. About 7.1 per cent worked in the manufacturing sector. Owing to a structural shift in employment during the past decade, the service sectors now employ eight times as many workers as the manufacturing sector. In September, 2 022 400 persons were engaged in establishments in the various service sectors, which is 5.3 per cent higher than the corresponding figure in 1999. Only 229 400 persons were engaged in the manufacturing sector, a decrease of 6.2 per cent compared with a year earlier.

Despite declining employment, the clothing industry remained the largest manufacturing industry, employing 50 200 persons in September, followed by the printing and publishing industry and the electronics industries, which employed 44 200 and 26 100 persons respectively. Details of the distribution of establishments and persons engaged by selected major industry groups are given in the Appendices.

Wages

Wage rates are calculated on a time basis, either daily or monthly, or on an incentive basis according to the volume of work performed. The average wage rate for employees up to the supervisory level, including daily-rated and monthly-rated employees, increased by 1.1 per cent in money terms between September 1999 and