Unemployment rate holds at 1.9 percent

The unemployment rate for July-September held stable from the previous period (June-August 2016), at 1.9 percent. According to information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) the underemployment rate was 0.5 percent, up by 0.1 percentage points. The total labour force was 401,800 and the labour force participation rate stood at 72.9 percent. Total employment increased by 1,600 from June-August, to 394,200. Number of unemployed persons was 7,600, up by 200, with fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 23.7 percent of the total unemployed, up by 3.2 percentage points. Median monthly employment earnings of all employed held stable as in the previous quarter, at MOP15,000 in the third quarter, with those engaging in the gaming industry earning MOP19,000 and construction workers earning an average of MOP15,000. Moreover, median earnings of the employed local residents stayed unchanged from the previous quarter, at MOP18,000.