MACAO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The general unemployment rate in Macao for the period from February to April 2020 increased by 0.1 percentage point to 2.2 percent from the previous period from January to March 2020, the special administrative region's statistic department said here on Friday.
The latest report from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that owing to the influence of COVID-19, the unemployment rate of Macao residents also rose by 0.2 percentage points to 3.1 percent, and the underemployment rate grew by 1.3 percentage points to 2.1 percent.
The total labour force was 403,100 and the labour force participation rate was 70.0 percent. The total employment was 394,200 and number of employed residents totaled 277,900, down by 3,200 and 2,300 respectively from the previous period.
The number of the unemployed continued to rise, up by 400 from the previous period to 8,900. The proportion of new labour market entrants seeking their first job decreased by 2.3 percentage points to 5.8 percent of the total unemployed.
The number of the underemployed increased by 5,100 to 8,300, with the majority working in the retail trade, the construction sector, the gaming activities and the transport and storage sector.
In comparison with the period from February to April 2019, the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate rose by 0.5 and 1.6 percentage points respectively, while the labour force participation rate remained unchanged. Enditem
