According to the results of the Employment Survey released by the
Statistics and Census Service, the unemployment rate for March-May
2008 stayed at 2.9%, the same level for the past seven periods,
down by 0.3 percentage point year-on-year. The underemployment rate
also remained unchanged from the previous period, at 1.6%, but up
by 0.7 percentage point year-on-year.
Total labour force was 329,200 in March-May 2008; the labour force
participation rate was same as in February-April 2007, at 70.5%,
up by 2.5 percentage points year-on-year.
The employed population rose by 1,500 over the previous period
to 319,600, with increase in the number of persons working in Transport,
Storage & Communications sector and Retail Trade, but decrease
in the Manufacturing sector.
The unemployed population stayed at around 9,600, with 3.9% of
the total (400) searching for their first job, down by 1.1 percentage
points over the previous period.
Related information: Employment
Survey / March - May 2008