Hong Kong unemployment falls to 6 per cent as coronavirus pandemic’s grip on economy eases
- Jobless rate for March-May period down 0.4 percentage points on the previous three-month period
- Labour minister says jobs market improving as the economy recovers, public health crisis recedes
The rolling figure for March to May was down 0.4 percentage points from the three-month period covering February to April, the Census and Statistics Department revealed on Thursday.
Some 233,300 people were still out of work, about 14,200 fewer than in the preceding period. The number of underemployed people fell 15 per cent to 107,400.
Unemployment declined across a range of industries in the latest reporting period, with the rate falling to 11.3 per cent in the food and beverage sector, 8.1 per cent in retail and 7.8 per cent in accommodation.
Looking ahead, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong said that as the economy continued to rebound, the labour market should also gradually improve, especially if the local epidemic remained well contained.
“Yet, the evolving global pandemic situation remains a key source of uncertainty. As the pace of economic recovery is uneven across sectors, the unemployment rates in some sectors may take a longer time to return to pre-pandemic levels,” Law warned.
Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po previously predicted that the city’s unemployment rate could drop to levels similar to those seen a year ago, but pointed out that a full economic recovery would hinge on boosting vaccinations against Covid-19 and reopening the city’s borders.