Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate (1.9%) and the underemployment rate (0.6%) for December 2012-February 2013 held stable as the previous period (November 2012-January 2013).

Total labour force was 357,200 and the labour force participation rate stood at 72.0%. Total employment was 350,600, a decrease of 900 from the previous period. Analysed by industry, employment in Retail Trade and Hotels & Similar Activities saw increase, while that in Construction registered a decrease.

Number of the unemployed was similar to the previous period, at 6,700; fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 7.0% of the total unemployed, down by 4.6 percentage points.

In comparison with December 2011-February 2012, the labour force participation rate went down by 1.2 percentage points; both the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate decreased by 0.2 percentage points.