Jobless rate likely to further drop next month

The unemployment rate has been declining for four consecutive months since March.

Economic indicators are showing signals that the unemployment rate in Hong Kong will likely continue to decline in the next month.

“The trend is definitely telling us that it's going down, in terms of the unemployment rate,” Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-Kwong said.

“How fast it will go down is something that we can't really predict, but the trend is going down.”

The unemployment rate in Hong Kong declined to 5.5% between April and June from 6% in the preceding three-month period as the city recovers from the economic crisis.

This comes as the Hong Kong economy continues to recover, along with the stabilisation of the outbreak as well as the improved external environment.

Read also: Jobless rate drops to 5.5% in June as economy rebounds

The number of unemployed dropped by 20,200 to 213,100 in April to June from 233,300 in March to May, according to the Census and Statistics Department.

The unemployment rate peaked in February when it hit a record high of 7.2%, but started to decline in March as the fourth wave of COVID-19 outbreak receded.

Read also: Jobless rate fell to 6.8% in March, as fourth wave receded