Macao's unemployment rate stayed below three percent from September last year to June 2008, according to an Employment Survey released on Monday by the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) of the Special Administration Region (SAR).

The survey showed that the unemployment rate for the second quarter of 2008 was 2.8 percent, down by 0.2 percentage point year-on-year, while the underemployment rate slightly increased by 0.6 percentage point year-on-year.

Local total labour force was 330,000 in the period, with labour force participation rate standing at 70.5 percent, up by 1.8 percentage points year-on-year, according to the survey.

The unemployed population was 9,100, with 600 (6.2 percent of the total) searching for their first job, an increase of 2.3 percentage points over the previous period of March to May 2008, it said.

In addition, the unemployment rate of local residents (excluding non-resident workers) stood at 3.4 percent for the period of April to June this year, and the respective labour force participation rate was 64.1 percent, said the survey.

Macao, a city with an area of 28.6 square km, has a population of 530,000.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2008)