According to the results of the Employment Survey released by the Statistics and Census Service, the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate for August-October 2008 held stable at 3.1% and 1.5% respectively from the previous period (July-September 2008), but up by 0.1 and 0.3 percentage point year-on-year.

Total labour force was 338,800 in August-October 2008; labour force participation rate stood at 70.6%, down by 0.1 percentage point over the previous period, but up by 0.3 percentage point year-on-year.

The employed population increased by 1,600 over the previous period to 328,400, with increase in the number of persons working in Recreational, Cultural, Gaming & Other Service, but decrease in that working in the Manufacturing Sector and Real Estate & Business Activities.

The unemployed population was 10,400, a decrease of 100 from the previous period, with 2,500 (23.7% of the total) searching for their first job, down by 0.9 percentage point over the previous period.