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

Total labour force was 400,000 and the labour force participation rate stood at 72.7%. Total employment increased by 600 from May-July, at 392,600. Analysed by industry, employment in Hotels, Restaurants & Similar Activities registered increase, while that in Construction saw decrease.

Number of the unemployed was 7,400, similar to that in May-July. With fresh graduates joining the labour market, the proportion of fresh labour force entrants searching for their first job increased by 5.0 percentage points to 20.5% of the total unemployed.

In comparison with June-August 2015, the labour force participation rate dropped by 0.6 percentage points, while both the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate remained unchanged.