ENG-2003 — Page 90

THE ECONOMY

58

Employment in financing, insurance, real estate and business services had a smaller reduction, by 0.5 per cent. On the other hand, employment in community, social and personal services increased by 3.9 per cent, underpinned by strong demand for the relevant services.

As to the local manufacturing sector, employment continued to drop, by 9.1 per cent in September 2003 from a year earlier, albeit lesser than the dips of 9.4 per cent in March and 13.8 per cent in June. Continued weak performance of domestic exports and ongoing relocation of production processes outside Hong Kong remained the major contributory factors.

Employment of manual workers at building and construction sites dwindled by 8.5 per cent in September 2003 from a year earlier, yet this was much smaller than the plunges of 13.3 per cent in March and 20.2 per cent in June. Within the total for September 2003, employment at private sector sites plummeted by 10.2 per cent, partly due to reduced work on some of the residential and commercial development projects along the MTR Tung Chung Line. Employment at public sector sites was down by 6.0 per cent, amidst still slack building activity under the Public Housing Programme and winding down of the KCR West Rail project. Taking into account off-site workers and related professional and support staff, employment in the entire building and construction sector was lower by 9.0 per cent in the third quarter of 2003 than a year earlier, following declines of 3.5 per cent in the first quarter and 5.4 per cent in the second quarter.

Overall labour earnings in the private sector eased further by 1.8 per cent in money terms in the third quarter of 2003 over a year earlier, after a decrease of 2.0 per cent in the first quarter, and an enlarged drop of 2.5 per cent in the second quarter owing to the SARS impact. Discounting a larger decline in consumer prices as reflected by the Composite CPI, overall labour earnings were nevertheless up by 1.9 per cent in real terms in the third quarter of 2003 over a year earlier, after virtually nil change in the first quarter and a fall of 0.1 per cent in the second quarter. For the first three quarters of 2003 as a whole, overall labour earnings were reduced by an average of 2.1 per cent in money terms from a year earlier, exceeding the 1.1 per cent decrease in 2002. In real terms, labour earnings increased much less for the first three quarters of 2003 as a whole, by an average of 0.6 per cent over a year earlier, as against the 2.0 per cent rise in 2002. On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter comparison, overall labour earnings rose marginally by 0.2 per cent in money terms in the third quarter of 2003, having been down by 1.0 per cent in the first quarter and 0.7 per cent in the second quarter. The downtrend over the preceding seven quarters was thus reversed. In real terms, overall labour earnings picked up more, by 1.5 per cent in the third quarter of 2003, after recovering from a fall of 0.6 per cent in the first quarter to a rise of 0.5 per cent in the second quarter.

Overall labour wages in the private sector likewise continued to fall, by 2.1 per cent in money terms in September 2003 over a year earlier, following a decrease of 1.5 per cent in March, and a larger decrease of 2.5 per cent in June due to the SARS impact. Discounting an enlarged decline in consumer prices as measured by the CPI(A), overall labour wages increased by 0.7 per cent in real terms in September 2003 over a year earlier, having risen by 0.3 per cent in March and then edged down by 0.1 per cent in June. For the first nine months of 2003 as a whole, overall labour wages fell by an average of 2.1 per cent in money terms over a year earlier, but edged up by an average of 0.3 per cent in real terms. In 2002, there was a decline of 1.0 per cent in money terms, yet an increase of 1.3 per cent in real terms (Chart 12).

Page 90Page 91