According to the results of the Employment Survey released by the Statistics and Census Service, the unemployment rate for July-September 2008 rose by 0.1 percentage point over the previous period (June-August 2008) to 3.1%, but remained unchanged over the same period of 2007. The underemployment rate was 1.5%, down by 0.1 percentage point over the previous period, but up by 0.4 percentage point year-on-year.

Total labour force was 337,400 in July-September 2008; the labour force participation rate stood at 70.7%, down by 0.2 percentage point over the previous period, but up by 0.3 percentage point year-on-year.

The employed population grew by 300 over the previous period to 326,900, with an increase in the number of persons working in the Hotel Sector, but a decrease in that of the Gaming Sector.

The unemployed population was 10,500, an increase of 400 from the previous period, with 2,600 (24.6% of the total) searching for their first job, up by 5.1 percentage points over the previous period.

In addition, the unemployment rate of local residents (excluding non-resident workers) stood at 4.0% for July-September of 2008, and the respective labour force participation rate was 64.0%.