In the recent three months, Hong Kong’s unemployment rate has [br] [originaltex

Hong Kong’s unemployment rate has remained stable, at 6.3 per cent in the past three months, as business conditions have improved in the last month. Figures indicate that from March to May this year the size of the labor force was provisionally at 3,462,000, while the number of unemployed people stood at 216,000. The number of cases of insolvency, cessation of business and retrenchment, and the number of workers affected by these cases, as recorded by the Labor Department, have shown a declining trend in recent months. From March to May 1999, 78 such cases involving 3,882 workers were recorded as compared to 93 cases affecting 5,220 workers for the three months from December 1998 to February 1999. Figures for the period from March to May 1999, when compared with those from February to April 1999, show an increase in the unemployment rate, mainly in the renovation, maintenance, wholesale and retail, and the transport sectors, which have offset the decrease seen in the construction, import and export and financing sectors.