Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the general unemployment rate for June-August 2018 was 1.8%, the unemployment rate of local residents stood at 2.4%, and the underemployment rate was 0.6%. All three indicators held stable as in the previous period (May-July 2018).

Total labour force was 392,100 and the labour force participation rate was 71.0%. Total employment was 385,000 and number of employed residents totalled 283,700, down by 500 and 600 respectively from the previous period. Analysed by industry, employment in Hotels, Restaurants & Similar Activities and the Construction Sector registered decreases while that in Recreational, Cultural, Gaming & Other Services increased.

Number of the unemployed was 7,100, similar to that in the previous period. With fresh graduates entering the labour market, the proportion of fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job increased by 4.9 percentage points to 21.0% of the total unemployed.

In comparison with June-August 2017, the labour force participation rate and the unemployment rate dropped by 0.5 and 0.2 percentage points respectively while the underemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point.