ENG-2016 — Page 80

Chart 10

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O

3

2

Per cent

4

Total employment

3

The Economy

Total Labour Force and Total Employment (year-on-year rate of change)

Total labour force

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

2012

2016 |

|

2013

2014

2015

Total employment and the labour force expanded modestly in 2016.

Thanks to a broadly stable and resilient labour market, wages and earnings stayed on the rise in 2016. Labour earnings in the private sector posted a further improvement of 3.7 per cent for the year as a whole, with more notable increases seen in the sectors of accommodation and food services activities, professional and business services, and real estate activities.

Separately, statistics compiled from the General Household Survey, though not strictly comparable to those from surveys by the business establishment, suggested the average monthly employment earnings of full-time employees in the lowest three decile groups combined, excluding foreign domestic helpers, rose appreciably by 5.5 per cent in nominal terms and 2.6 per cent in real terms in 2016.

Property Market

Following the brief consolidation in late 2015 and early 2016, the residential property market rebounded in the second quarter of 2016 and turned exuberant in the third quarter amid a still tight demand-supply balance of flats. With a view to forestalling a further build-up of housing bubble risks, the government raised ad valorem stamp duty on residential property transactions to a flat rate of 15 per cent in early November. The market cooled visibly thereafter, also aided by the US interest rate hike in mid-December. Trading activities turned very subdued, while the upward momentum in flat prices was arrested.

The total number of sale and purchase agreements for residential property received by the Land Registry fell 2 per cent to 54,700 in 2016, sharply below the long-term average of 91,900

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