'Inactive' person may not be unemployed

I refer to the report, headlined 'One in eight suffering from chronic disease' (South China Morning Post, August 22), about the findings of the survey on people with disabilities and chronic diseases, which was conducted by the Census and Statistics Department.

Your report said, 'The surveys also found that nearly 80 per cent of the disabled were unemployed.' This requires clarification. According to the survey's findings, some 59,700 people aged 15 and over with disabilities were economically active (including employed and unemployed), constituting only 22.9 per cent of all persons aged 15 and over with disabilities. But that does not imply that the remainder (about 80 per cent) were unemployed.

Indeed, our survey found that some 200,800 people with disabilities were economically inactive, representing 77.1 per cent of all people aged 15 and over with disabilities. Such economically inactive people (mostly retired people, home-makers and students) did not meet the criteria for being classified as unemployed, according to the International Labour Organisation's definition.

The criteria include: (a) has no work, (b) available for work during the seven days before enumeration, and (c) has sought work during the 30 days before enumeration. Apparently, those economically inactive people were not available for work during the seven days before enumeration nor had they sought work during the 30 days before enumeration.

ALVIN W K LI

for Commissioner for Census

and Statistics