Information from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) indicated that attributable to continuous increase in total employment, the unemployment rate fell to a record low of 2.4% in August-October 2011, down by 0.2 percentage point compared with the previous period (July-September 2011); the underemployment rate held stable as the previous period, at 1.0%.

Total labour force was 346,600 in August-October 2011 and the labour force participation rate reached a historical high of 73.0%, with total employment increasing by 2,900 over the previous period to 338,200. Analyzed by industry, employment of the Gaming Sector and the Hotel Sector registered increase.

Number of the unemployed decreased by 600 from the previous period to 8,300, with 16.4% being fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job, down by 0.2 percentage point over the previous period.

In comparison with August-October 2010, the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate decreased by 0.5 and 0.6 percentage point respectively; however, the labour force participation rate increased by 1.3 percentage points.