HY unemployment steady at 2.8% in Q1 2019
It's Labour Day in Hong Kong in a statement just issued by the HKSAR Government, the Hong Kong labour market remains robust. According to the latest report from the HKSAR Government's Finance Secretary, the unemployment rate held steady at 2.8% in first quarter of 2019. Aside from the enviable 97.2% employment in the territory, the results from the latest Census and Statistics Department (C&SD)’s Quarterly Business Tendency Survey for large enterprises indicates that, business sentiment among large enterprises in Hong Kong is improving. The proportion of large enterprises expecting their business situation to be better in the second quarter was outweighed by the proportion of those expecting their situation to be worse by just 1%, significantly down from the 12% figure recorded in the previous quarter. At the same time, the Hong Kong SME Leading Business Index recently released by the Hong Kong Productivity Council increased sharply by 5.6 to 46.0 in the second quarter this year, which indicates business sentiment for SMEs is also beginning to stabilise.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
