HK jobless rate lowest for more than a year
But pace of decline is slowing because greater numbers are seeking work
Hong Kong's unemployment rate resumed falling in February, but the pace of the decline was the slowest in seven months as optimism about the economy brought more job-seekers into the market, the government and analysts said yesterday.
The seasonally adjusted average jobless rate for December to February fell to 7.2 per cent, the lowest in more than a year, from 7.3 per cent in the preceding period, in line with economists' expectations. Last month's jobless rate is the lowest in more than a year.
The under-employment rate, which tracks the number of people unable to find more than 35 hours of work a week, held steady at 3.3 per cent.
The number of people who found jobs last month grew by almost the same amount as the growth in the size of the total workforce. That indicated that while the economy was picking up, it was also inspiring more unemployed people to look for work, Financial Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen and economists said.
'I think the figures are not going to significantly improve in the shorter term simply because there are more and more people who are joining the labour force in view of an improving economy,' Mr Tang said.
Henry Tsoi Wing-fai, a senior economist at Hang Seng Bank, said the size of Hong Kong's workforce, which includes people working as well as those searching for a job, had been shrinking for most of the past six months until last month.
'Now people seem to be rejoining the market when they see signs of improvement in the labour market,' Mr Tsoi said. He added that he thought it was unlikely the jobless rate would continue to decline steeply as it has done since peaking at 8.7 per cent in July.
The number of people with jobs rose by 9,500 to 3.25 million last month, the fifth monthly gain, the government's provisional figures showed yesterday.
At the same time, the number of unemployed people rose by 400 to 245,000, suggesting that as some people found jobs, others started looking for work.
As a result, Hong Kong's workforce grew to 3.495 million last month from 3.485 million in January.
Another encouraging sign came from the number of private-sector job vacancies listed at the Labour Department, which rose to 23,461 last month, up from 13,619 in January.
However, the basic problem holding back Hong Kong's unemployment was a mismatch of skills, with too many low-skilled workers chasing too few jobs, said Hung Wan-sing, an associate professor of economics at Baptist University.
