According to the latest labour force statistics from the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), Hong Kong’s employment rate as of the end of January 2022, remains unchanged from the previous quarter at 3.9%. Unemployment levels remain at their lowest levels since the onset of the pandemic though, the Labour Department has warned that joblessness could once again rise if the situation continues to spiral.
Movement across different industry sectors varied. The statistics revealed that there were increases in unemployment across the food and beverage, arts, entertainment and recreation sectors with food and beverage seeing the biggest increase. Yet, manufacturing, transportation, storage, courier and information and communications sectors saw and decrease in unemployment levels. Total employment decreased by around 4,200 across the period whilst at the same time, the labour force also decreased by around 12,300 workers.
Commenting on the latest unemployment figures, Dr Law Chi-kwong, Secretary for Labour and Welfare said, “The fifth wave of [the] local epidemic began to weigh on the labour market. Although the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate remained the same as that in the previous period, the employment rate increased by 0.1% to 1.8% over the period.”
Looking ahead, Dr Law said, “The deterioration of the local epidemic situation will pose further pressure on the labour market. The sixth round of measures under the Anti-epidemic Fund are estimated to benefit 67,00 business operations and 750,000 individuals. The outlook of the labour market hinges on the development of the epidemic.”
The latest survey covered 25,000 households, or 69,000 people, which were selected based on a scientifically designed sampling scheme to represent the financial hub's population.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
