ENG-2008 — Page 142

98 Commerce and Industry

industry. Chart 1 shows the breakdown of employment within the manufacturing sector as at December 2008.

Chart 1

Number of Persons Employed by the Manufacturing Sector as at December 2008

Others

28.1% (42 210)

Chemical products 3.7% (5 490)

Electronics 7.6% (11 432)

Clothing 8.7% (12 995)

Textiles 9.8% (14 715)

Printing and publishing

24.6% (36 917)

Food and beverages 17.5% (26 198)

The Services Sector

The services sector has grown significantly in the past two decades. Its share of Hong Kong's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose from 73 per cent in 1988 to 92.3 per cent in 2007. In 2008, 87.1 per cent of total employment was in the services sector. Hong Kong has become one of the most service-oriented economies in the world. Much of this growth was fuelled by the demand for producer services by Hong Kong's globalised production network and the trend towards sourcing goods and services globally.

In 2008, Hong Kong's total services trade amounted to $1,077.2 billion, making it the world's 16th largest trading entity in terms of value of services trade. In the same year, Hong Kong exported $719.9 billion worth of services, contributing to 42.9 per cent of GDP. Hong Kong ranked fourth after Japan, China and India in the region in terms of absolute value of exports of services. In the global league table of exports of services, Hong Kong ranked 12th in 2008.

Hong Kong's exports of services comprise mainly transportation services, merchanting and other trade-related services and travel services. The first two categories accounted for 31 and 30 per cent respectively and the last accounted for 17 per cent of the total value in 2008. The corresponding share for exports of financial services was 14 per cent, and that for exports of insurance and other services was 9 per cent. In addition to being a net exporter of services in overall terms, analysed by components of services trade, in 2008 Hong Kong recorded a surplus in merchanting and other trade-related services ($192.3 billion), transportation services ($105.8 billion) and financial services ($72.8 billion).

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