Improvements were mainly seen in the insurance, arts, entertainment, recreation as well as information and communications sectors.

But the latest Census and Statistics Department figures show that the number of jobless people rose slightly, by about 1,500 - to 160,600 - in the first quarter.

Cheung said that business activities in a number of sectors moderated somewhat owing to seasonal fluctuation - resulting in fewer jobs after the Lunar New Year holidays.

Construction and transportation were the two main sectors that saw an increase in unemployed people. Unemployment among people aged between 15 and 19 increased slightly, by 0.3 percentage point to 18.2 per cent.

Dr Mo Pak-hung, an associate professor at Baptist University's School of Business, said Hong Kong had been recovering from the financial crisis since the middle of last year.

'While Hong Kong is recovering, it still has the drive for economic growth ... and the jobless rate should continue to fall by 0.2 percentage points for a few months,' Mo said.

The city's jobless rate was below 4 per cent before the financial crisis began in late 2008.

More jobs would probably be created in the corporate sector in the next one or two months, the labour minister said, based on the latest job information. This should help improve the employment situation in the near term.

Private-sector vacancies posted by the Labour Department rose by 64.6 per cent to nearly 66,000 in March from the previous month. The department is holding a three-day job fair at Olympian City, with more than 8,000 vacancies at 120 firms on offer.

Francesca McDonagh, HSBC's head of personal financial services for Hong Kong, yesterday announced that the bank would recruit more than 300 relationship managers, wealth management managers and general banking officers. A spokeswoman for the bank said it saw more customers and therefore needed to expand its frontline staff.