The Statistics and Census Service released the results of the Employment Survey for the fourth quarter of 2007. Principal indicators such as the labour force participation rate and unemployment rate for the whole year and the fourth quarter of 2007 have been published in January 2008.

In the fourth quarter of 2007, total labour force was estimated at 323,000, of which 313,000 were employed and 9,500 unemployed, representing an increase of about 5,600 in the employed population and a decrease of about 300 in the unemployed population over the third quarter of 2007.

Regarding the employed population, 52.8% were male.

Analyzed by industry, the majority of the employed population were engaging in Recreational, cultural, gaming & other services (23.4%), Construction (13.0%), Hotels, restaurants & similar activities (12.8%), as well as Wholesale & retail trade (12.3%).

By occupation, 25.7% of the employed were Clerks (including casino dealers, floorpersons, betting service operators, etc.); 21.1% were Service & sales workers and 17.4% were Unskilled workers.

The overall median of monthly employment earnings was MOP7,926. For Recreational, cultural, gaming & other services that engaged the majority of the employed population, the median earnings amounted to MOP11,698.

The median actual hours of work per week was 46.7 hours.

Within the unemployed, 86.1% had worked previously and were searching for a new job, while 13.9% had never worked and were searching for their first job. With regard to the educational attainment, 11.5% had pre-primary education; 30.3% had primary education; 30.7% had junior secondary education; 19.6% had senior secondary education and 7.8% had tertiary education.

For the unemployed that were searching for a new job:

Analyzed by the previous industry engaged, the majority had worked in Construction (22.8%), Wholesale & retail trade (18.2%), Hotels, restaurants & similar activities (15.7%), as well as Recreational, cultural, gaming & other services (14.6%).

In terms of the previous occupation, 29.4% were Service & sales workers, whereas Craftsmen & similar workers and Unskilled workers accounted for 19.3% and 18.2% respectively.