Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate for March-May 2012 held stable as the previous period (February-April), at 2.0% and 0.8% respectively.

Total labour force decreased slightly by 1,000 from the previous period to 344,000; the labour force participation rate stood at 71.9%, down by 0.5 percentage point.

Total employment was 337,000, down by 1,100 over the preceding period. Analysed by industry, employment of Real Estate & Business Activities declined, while that of the Construction, Hotel and Gaming Sectors registered increase.

Number of the unemployed was similar to the previous period, at 6,900, with 7.9% being fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job, down by 4.2 percentage points.

In comparison with March-May 2011, the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate decreased by 0.6 and 0.5 percentage point respectively, but the labour force participation rate remained unchanged.