Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the unemployment rate for November 2015-January 2016 held stable at 1.9% as in the previous period (October-December 2015); the underemployment rate was 0.4%, down by 0.1 percentage point.

Total labour force was 397,900 and the labour force participation rate stood at 72.6%. Total employment decreased by 2,800 from October-December 2015, at 390,300. Analysed by industry, employment in Construction registered decrease, while that in Restaurants & Similar Activities saw increase.

Number of the unemployed was 7,700, up by 200 from October-December 2015; fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 9.9% of the total unemployed, down by 0.9 percentage points.

In comparison with November 2014-January 2015, the labour force participation rate decreased by 1.7 percentage points; the unemployment rate increased by 0.2 percentage points, while the underemployment rate stayed unchanged.