ENG-2002 — Page 89

Chart 14

Per cent

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5

4

3

2

1

0

-1

-2

-3

+-

THE ECONOMY

Total labour force and total employment (year-on-year rate of change)

Total

labour force

Total employment

Q2 Q3 Q4 QI Q2 Q3 Q4 QI Q2 Q3 Q4 QI Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

Total labour force continued to show steady growth in 2002. Total employment had a lesser decline in the third quarter of 2002, and then went up in the fourth quarter. This led to a fall in the unemployment rate in the latter part of the year.

Employment as enumerated from business establishments continued to decrease, along with further consolidation and rationalisation in the corporate sector. For all the private sector establishments surveyed taken together, total employment shrank by 1.5 per cent in September 2002 over a year earlier, following decreases of 1.1 per cent in March and 2.7 per cent in June. For the first nine months of 2002 as a whole, total employment dwindled by an average of 1.8 per cent, after increasing by only 0.2 per cent in 2001. On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, total employment was virtually static in September 2002, having decreased by 0.7 per cent in March and 0.6 per cent in June.

Taking all the service sectors surveyed together, employment fell by 0.4 per cent in September 2002 over a year earlier, yet narrowed from the 2.1 per cent decline in June. Employment growth varied considerably amongst the constituent sectors. On a year- on-year comparison, employment in storage and communications contracted visibly, by 7.3 per cent in September 2002, attributable to further consolidation in the telecommunications sector. Employment in restaurants and hotels and in the retail trade dropped by 4.8 per cent and 1.7 per cent respectively, amidst subdued local consumer demand, and notwithstanding buoyancy in inbound tourism. Employment in financing, insurance, real estate and business services and in water transport, air transport and services allied to transport declined by 2.9 per cent and 0.6 per cent respectively. On the other hand, employment in the wholesale and import/export trades went up, albeit only marginally, by 0.2 per cent, in tandem with an upswing in external trade. Employment in community, social and personal services had a larger

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