Construction, manufacturing sectors expect employment to go up
Most employers in Hong Kong expect employment to remain "broadly unchanged" in the third quarter of 2024, according to the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD).
C&SD's survey among senior management of about 560 establishments revealed that most employers across all 10 covered sectors in the poll expect employment to remain broadly unchanged in the third quarter of 2024.
The construction and manufacturing sectors saw a higher number of businesses expecting an increase in employment, with 15 and 13, respectively, according to the report.
At the same time, employers in the construction sector were also most likely to expect employment to decline (12).
Other sectors that are likely to expect a decrease in employment include the information and communications (10) and the professional and business services sectors (9).
[Insert image: Employment HK]
Source: Census and Statistics Department
The findings come as Hong Kong's unemployment rate stood at three per cent in the second quarter, with the number of unemployed individuals going down to 114,700 during the period, according to C&SD.
Business situation
The findings come as 12% of employers expect their business situation to worsen, slightly higher than the 11% expecting it to improve.
The proportion of respondents expecting a better business situation in the third quarter is also slightly lower than the 14% recorded in the previous quarter.
A government spokesperson said the overall sentiment of large enterprises "softened slightly" as compared to three months ago.
According to the spokesperson, the Central Government's measures should provide support to employers while geopolitical tensions are expected to impact business sentiment in the near term.
"The government will monitor the situation closely," the representative said.
