The unemployment rate in Hong Kong fell to 3% between February and April, as per the most recent data from the Census and Statistics Department.

Hong Kong’s Secretary for Labour and Welfare. Chris Sun said the decline was due to a rally in domestic economic activity and visitor arrivals. 

Comparing the February to April period with January to March, the number of unemployed people in Hong Kong fell by around 700, from 115,100 to 114,400; total employment rose from around 3,654,100 to 3,655,900; whilst the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate edged down from 3.1% to 3.0%. 

During the same time, movement in the unemployment rate differed – not seasonally adjusted for various industries. Comparatively “notable decreases” were found in the repair and maintenance industries of the buildings sector and warehousing and support industries in the transportation sector, amongst others. 

In contrast, the unemployment rate within sectors linked to consumption and tourism – including accommodation and food services – remained the same at 4.2% between February and April, whilst the retail sector was steady at 3.8%. 

In addition, there was a marginal decline in the food and beverage services sectors by 0.1 percentage points to 4.8%. For other sectors, unemployment rates either revealed slight changes or increases, but remained low overall. 

“The labour market continued to improve as domestic economic activities revived further and visitor arrivals rebounded strongly,” said Chris Sun. “The labour market should improve further in the coming months alongside the ongoing economic recovery.”

Furthermore, from February to April, the Labour Department registered a monthly average of 106,577 vacancies within the private sector, highlighting a year-on-year rise of 75% and a 4.4% increase over the average figure recorded between January and March.