MACAO, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Macao's general unemployment rate from May to July 2020 was 2.7 percent, up by 0.2 percentage points from the period of April to June 2020, the special administrative region's statistic service said here on Thursday.
The latest report from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) showed that the unemployment rate of local residents from May to July was 3.8 percent, up by 0.3 percentage points from the period from April to June.
On the other hand, the underemployment rate edged down by 0.1 percentage point to 3.3 percent, the DSEC report added.
The total labor force was 406,500 and the labor force participation rate was 70.5 percent. The total employment decreased by 6,500 from the previous period to 395,400, on account of a drop in the number of non-resident workers living in Macao.
The number of employed residents totaled 277,700, down by 1,600. Analyzed by industry, the number of employed residents in gaming activities and retail trade decreased, while that in the construction sector increased.
The number of the unemployed was 11,100, up by 1,000 from the previous period. With fresh graduates entering the labor market, the proportion of new labor market entrants seeking their first job increased by 3.7 percentage points to 9.2 percent of the total unemployed.
Among the unemployed population searching for a new job, the number of those previously working in the gaming activities showed relatively large growth.
The number of the underemployed decreased by 400 to 13,500, with the majority working in gaming activities, the construction sector, and hotels and similar activities.
In comparison with the period from May to July 2019, the underemployment rate, the unemployment rate and the labor force participation rate rose by 2.8, 0.9 and 0.2 percentage points respectively. Enditem
