Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that both the unemployment rate (1.9%) and the underemployment rate (0.5%) for February-April 2016 remained stable as in January-March 2016.

Total labour force was 397,300 and the labour force participation rate stood at 72.2%. Total employment increased by 600 from January-March, at 389,600. Analysed by industry, employment in Gaming & Junket Activities and Real Estate & Business Activities registered increase, while that in Hotels & Similar Activities saw decrease.

Number of the unemployed was 7,700, similar to that in January-March; fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 5.0% of the total unemployed, down by 1.3 percentage points.

In comparison with February-April 2015, the labour force participation rate dropped by 1.8 percentage points, while both the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage points.