The labour minister has voiced cautious optimism for employment this year after Hong Kong's jobless rate last year fell more than 40 per cent from its peak during the Sars outbreak.
But Secretary for Economic Development and Labour, Stephen Ip Shu-kwan, said high oil prices and interest rates globally would still pose uncertainty to the local economy.
The unemployment rate for the three months from September stood at 5.3 per cent and the under-employment rate was 2.4 per cent - both four-year lows.
Mr Ip said unemployment in the construction sector remained relatively high.
But he believed the situation would improve in coming years with the government rolling out projects for community facilities and building repairs, which would create about 6,000 jobs.
'If construction of the government headquarters and the Legislative Council complex at Tamar is to go ahead in 2007, this will create an extra 2,700 jobs in the construction sector,' he said.
