Surprise dip in June unemployment rate

Inches down to 3.4% in Q2 from Q1.

According to the Census and Statistics Department, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped to 3.3% at the end of the three months ended June from 3.4% in the preceding period. Economists had forecast the jobless rate to stay unchanged.

The underemployment rate remained unchanged at 1.6% in June. The number of underemployed persons fwll by some 1,800 to 61,400.

There were around 134,200 unemployed persons in Hong Kong from April to June, which was lower by 2,100 than in the three months ended May.

The number of employed persons rose by some 9,600 to about 3.75 million during the period, and reached a new record high.

Welfare Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said labor demand is likely to stay firm on the back of a resilient domestic sector, helping to keep the unemployment rate at a relatively low level in the near term.