MACAO, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Macao's general unemployment rate and unemployment rate of local residents for the period from August to October held steady from the period from July to September this year, the special administrative region's statistics department said on Friday.
The latest report from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the general unemployment rate stood at 2.9 percent and the unemployment rate of local residents at 4.1 percent.
The underemployment rate increased by 0.5 percentage points to 5.2 percent, while the labor force participation rate decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 70.0 percent, the DSEC report added.
There were 398,900 people in the labor force. When including the number of Macao residents and non-resident workers who worked here but lived outside Macao, the total labor force was 481,000, down by 900 from the previous period.
The number of employed persons living in Macao decreased by 4,700 from the previous period to 387,100, due to a drop in the number of non-resident workers living in Macao. The number of employed residents totalled 277,300, down by 200.
Analyzed by industry, the number of employed persons in gaming activities and hotels decreased, while those working in the transport and storage sector increased.
The number of the unemployed fell by 100 from the previous period to 11,700. Among the unemployed population searching for a new job, most of them were previously engaged in gaming activities and retail trade.
Meanwhile, the proportion of new labor market entrants seeking their first job increased by 0.6 percentage points to 18.0 percent of the total unemployed.
The number of the underemployed rose by 1,800 to 20,800, with the majority working in gaming activities and hotels.
In comparison with the period from August to October 2019, the underemployment rate and the unemployment rate increased by 4.7 and 1.1 percentage points respectively, while the labor force participation rate dropped by 0.1 percentage point. Enditem
