Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department announced Monday that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate has decreased from 6.4 percent in November 2004 -- January 2005 to 6.1 percent in December 2004 - February 2005, the lowest level since September - November 2001.

The underemployment rate also declined from 3.1 percent to 3.0 percent during the same period.

A government spokesman noted that the unemployment situation continued to improve in December 2004 -- February 2005, with the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate falling to a 39-month low of 6.1 percent, and total employment reached a new high of 3.346 million.

He said the drop of 0.3 percentage point in the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is the largest in the latest 15 months.

"The improvement was mainly due to the combined influence of continued expansion in overall employment and a slight reduction in the total labor supply. The near-term outlook for the unemployment rate will depend on the pace of overall economic growth and hence job creation for the labor force," he added.

He said that in February, the Labor Department received 24,112 vacancies from the private sector, an all-time high for the month of February so far.

"Despite the intervening Chinese New Year holidays, the number of vacancies from the private sector not only stayed at the high level of some 1,200 for each working day but the monthly total also recorded a 1.9 percent increase over January," the spokesman said.

"As announced by the Financial Secretary in the 2005-06 Budget,the government will continue to encourage economic development, thereby generating more employment. To this end, we will reinforce our strengths in areas such as tourism, logistics and finance."

"We will also earmark 830 million HK dollars (106.4 million US dollars) to continue to remove unauthorized structures. This, together with the measures to facilitate urban renewal and building management and maintenance announced in the 2005 Policy Address, will create a significant number of jobs for the construction, property management and related industries in the next few years."

This will ease the unemployment of the less-educated and low-skilled, he added.

Comparing December 2004 - February 2005 with November 2004 -- January 2005, decreases in the unemployment rate (not seasonally adjusted) were mainly observed in the real estate, sanitary services, amusement and recreational services, and retail trade sectors.

As to the underemployment rate, decreases were mainly seen in the construction, communications, business services and manufacturing sectors.

Total employment increased by around 3,000, from 3.343 million in November 2004 -- January 2005 to reach a new high of 3.346 (provisional figure) in December 2004 - February 2005.

The number of unemployed persons (not seasonally adjusted) decreased by around 4, 600, from 213,600 in November 2004 - January 2005 to 209,000 (provisional figure) in December 2004 - February 2005. This is the lowest since the end of 2001.

Editor: Olivia