Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that the general unemployment rate for August-October 2018 was 1.8%, the unemployment rate of local residents stood at 2.4%, and the underemployment rate was 0.4%. All three indicators held stable as in the previous period (July-September 2018).

Total labour force was 392,900 and the labour force participation rate was 70.8%. Total employment was 386,000 and number of employed residents totalled 283,400, down by 1,600 and 1,900 respectively from the previous period. Analysed by industry, employment in Retail Trade and the Construction Sector registered decreases.

Number of the unemployed was 6,900, similar to that in the previous period. Fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job accounted for 14.9% of the total unemployed, down by 5.7 percentage points.

In comparison with August-October 2017, both the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point, while the labour force participation rate remained unchanged.