Census and Statistics Department

Labour Force and Unemployment

Statistics on labour force, unemployment and underemployment are compiled based on data obtained from the General Household Survey.

The labour force refers to the land-based non-institutional population aged 15 and over who satisfy the criteria for inclusion in the employed population or the unemployed population. The labour force participation rate refers to the proportion of labour force in the land-based non-institutional population aged 15 and over.

The employed population consists of persons aged 15 and over who have been at work for pay or profit during the 7 days before enumeration or who have had formal job attachment.

Notwithstanding the above, the following types of persons are also classified as unemployed:
(a)	persons without a job, have sought work but have not been available for work because of temporary sickness; and
(b)	persons without a job, have been available for work but have not sought work because they:
	(i)	have made arrangements to take up a new job or to start business at a subsequent date; or
	(ii)	were expecting to return to their original jobs.

The unemployment rate refers to the proportion of unemployed persons in the labour force. Seasonally adjusted unemployment rates are compiled for making comparison over time. Starting from May 2008, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate is compiled by the X-12 ARIMA method to replace the previous X-11 ARIMA method. The seasonally adjusted unemployment rates since November 2006 - January 2007 have also been revised using the new method. X-12 ARIMA method is an update to the X-11 ARIMA method with enhanced modelling and diagnostic capabilities. The X-12 ARIMA method has now been a standard method used by statistical offices for performing seasonal adjustment of statistical series in many countries/territories.

The underemployed population comprises those employed persons who have involuntarily worked less than 35 hours during the 7 days before enumeration and have sought additional work during the 30 days before enumeration, or have not sought additional work but have been available for additional work during the 7 days before enumeration. Following this definition, employed persons taking no-pay leave due to slack work during the 7 days before enumeration are also classified as underemployed if they worked less than 35 hours (or even did not work at all) during the 7-day period. The underemployment rate refers to the proportion of underemployed persons in the labour force.

The labour force statistics are subject to routine revision arising from:
(a)	Routine revision to population estimates --- under the "resident population" approach, all population estimates in a given year can only be finalized in August of the following year.
(b)	Routine revision to seasonal factors compiled using the X-12 ARIMA method --- the series of seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in respect of all moving three-month periods in a given calendar year is subject to routine revision later, when the finalized labour force statistics for all moving three-month periods in that year are available to enable re-estimation of the final seasonal factors.

The industry breakdowns of employment statistics shown in the Frequently Asked Statistics section are based on the Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification Version 1.1 (HSIC V1.1), which is modelled on the United Nations' International Standard Industrial Classification (Revision 2) (ISIC Rev. 2), with adaptation for the industrial structure of the local economy.

With the widespread establishment of information technology and telecommunications companies in Hong Kong in recent years, the HSIC has been revised in October 2001 in order to provide a more refined and up-to-date classification framework for users in compiling related statistics. The revised HSIC is named as Hong Kong Standard Industrial Classification Version 1.1 (HSIC V1.1).

Statistics on the number of establishments, persons engaged and vacancies provide an indication of the demand situation in the local labour market. It should be noted that figures in the tables concerned are based mainly on data obtained from the Quarterly Survey of Employment and Vacancies (SEV), which does not cover some industries for operational difficulties. Economic activities in different industry sectors not covered by the SEV :

Industry Sector		Economic activities in the sector not covered

1		Agriculture and Fishing (entire sector)
5		Construction (other than manual workers at construction sites)
6		Hawkers and retail pitches (other than market stalls)
7		Taxis, public light buses, goods vehicles, barges, lighters and stevedoring services
9		Public administration, religious organisations, authors and other independent artists, domestic helpers, and miscellaneous recreational and personal services

Figures for individual industry sectors and for the total of all industry sectors in the tables concerned therefore relate only to those selected industries covered in the survey.

For the non-construction industry sectors covered by the SEV, the unit of enquiry is an establishment, which is defined as an economic unit which engages, under a single ownership or control, in one or predominantly one kind of economic activity at a single physical location, e.g. an individual factory, workshop, retail shop and office. Where separate figures relating to different activities or different locations under the same management are not available, a combined return is accepted and in this case, the reporting unit is treated as an establishment. For the Civil Service sector, the unit of enquiry is a government department and for the construction sector, a construction site. A construction site is defined as a demarcated locality where one or more stages of construction work are being carried on.

For establishments outside the Civil Service, persons engaged include :
(a)	individual proprietors, partners and persons having family ties with any of the proprietors or partners and working in the establishment without regular pay, who are actively engaged in the work of the establishment for at least one hour on the survey reference date;
(b)	full-time salaried personnel or employees and working directors of limited companies directly paid by the establishment, both permanent and temporary, who are either at work (whether or not in Hong Kong) or temporarily absent from work (viz. those on sick leave, maternity leave, annual vacation or casual leave, and on strike) on the survey reference date; and
(c)	part-time employees and employees on night/irregular shifts working for at least one hour on the survey reference date.

Civil Servants refer to persons who are employed on civil service terms of appointment on the survey reference date. Independent Commission Against Corruption officers, locally engaged staff working in Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices, and other government employees like Non-Civil Service Contract staff are excluded. A minor revision has been made on its statistical definition since the statistical month of June 1999, whereby judges and judicial officers in the Judiciary are excluded from the coverage of civil servants.

Manual workers at the construction sites refer to skilled, semi-skilled and general workers working at those sites on the survey reference date. Manual workers are either directly employed by the main contractors, or being called upon by sub-contractors or gangers to work in the construction site.

Vacancies refer to unfilled job openings which are immediately available, and for which active recruitment steps are being taken on the survey reference date.

For closer conformity with the above concept, the definition of civil service vacancies has been revised starting from the statistical month of June 1999, such that civil service vacancies having arisen from posts pending deletion and posts held by temporary staff or reserved for other staff are excluded. Revision of the statistics has been backdated to the statistical month of March 1996.

Following the above vacancy concept, the definition of civil service vacancies has been revised as below having regard to different civil service policies implemented in the respective periods:
(a)	Starting from the March 2004 round, civil service vacancies refer to unfilled posts for which exemptions from the open recruitment freeze have been granted to certain departments to conduct limited number of open recruitment exercises having regard to their manpower requirements. The general open recruitment freeze to the civil service was imposed from 1 April 2003 to 31 March 2007;
(b)	Starting from the statistical month of June 2007 following the lifting of the general civil service open recruitment freeze for grades that are not subject to voluntary retirement (VR) with effect from 1 April 2007, civil service vacancies are (i) the vacancies for non-VR grades, i.e. vacancies net of posts pending deletion and posts held by temporary staff or reserved for other staff; and (ii) the vacancies for VR grades for which exemptions to conduct open recruitment exercises have been granted.
(c)	Starting from the statistical month of March 2008 following the lifting of the open recruitment freeze imposed for VR grades with effect from 21 March 2008, civil service vacancies are the vacancies net of posts pending deletion and posts held by temporary staff or reserved for other staff.

Starting from the March 2002 round of SEV, the survey coverage has been expanded to include five more industries in the community, social and personal services sector. They are veterinary services, billiard centres, bowling centres, electronic game centres and funeral services.

Starting from the March 2003 round, the survey coverage of the Quarterly Employment Survey of Construction Sites has been expanded to include (i) electrical and mechanical manual workers; (ii) construction works under the School Improvement Programme of the Architectural Services Department; and (iii) those sites under the charge of the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department and the Environmental Protection Department.