Employment slips in March

Total employment dropped by 14,500 persons from the previous year.

Total employment in the private sector decreased by 0.5% in March, or 14,500 down to 2.714 million persons employed in the previous year, the Census and Statistics Department reported.  

Amongst the sectors, the import and export trade engaged the most with 349,800 persons, followed by professional and business services (excluding cleaning and similar services) with 314,000 persons.

Accommodation services employed 4% more whilst human health services and real estate employment increased 3.9% and  3.7% respectively.

Employment decreased 4.6% and 3.4% in retail trade and wholesale respectively, followed by a 3.3% decline in information and communications and 2.8% drop in food and beverage services.

Meanwhile, the report also noted that job vacancies stood at 55,170, reflecting a 27% year-on-year reduction.

Job vacancies decreased across all selected industries in March over a year earlier. The largest slump was recorded in transportation, storage, postal and courier services with a 58% drop.

Other prominent industries include human health services’ decrease of 43% followed by  professional and business services’ decline of 25%, whilst education services reduced 23%. 

Amongst the 55,170 private sector vacancies, 20,200 were mainly from service and sales categories whilst 10,120 and 8,390 were seen in professionals and associate professionals respectively.

Seasonally adjusted total employment and total vacancies increased by less than 0.05% and decreased by 7.3% respectively in March 2025, compared with December 2024.