The number of people with jobs rose by about 9,400 to a record 3.36 million in May, or about half of Hong Kong's population.
The increase, announced yesterday, came as the economic revival continued to drive down the unemployment rate to a 43-month low of 5.7 per cent.
A government spokesman described market sentiment as generally buoyant.
The latest jobless rate is a drop of 0.2 of a percentage point from April and reflects improved employment in the construction, manufacturing and business services sectors.
The number of construction workers without jobs in May dropped to 43,000 from 46,500 in April, lowering the sector's unemployment rate to 13.7 per cent from 15 per cent.
Labour secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said he was cautiously optimistic about the outlook for the construction sector as some of the unemployed workers were being absorbed by Macau, which is experiencing a building boom.
'I don't see the unemployment rate falling to 5 per cent in the short term as there is still a structural jobs mismatch. But there should be more openings available when the Four Seasons hotel and Hong Kong Disneyland are ready in September,' Mr Cheung said.
