HK's jobless rate at 3.9% with construction hitting 7.2% amid project slowdown
發佈日期: 2025-10-21 21:23
TVB News
Hong Kong's latest unemployment rate between July and September has climbed to 3.9 percent with the construction sector being the hardest hit, which saw a jobless rate at 7.2 percent.
The three-month jobless rate is 0.2 percentage point higher than the preceding June-to-August period.
The underemployment rate remained unchanged at 1.6 percent.
Some local construction workers say the import scheme of non-local staff has led to job losses among local ones.
Development Secretary Bernadette Linn, meanwhile, wrote in a newspaper article that the recent rise in construction unemployment mainly stems from the slowdown in private-sector property projects.
She explained that construction involves multiple stages and trade with labour demand fluctuating as projects progress.
She says despite less demand for early-stage projects, there's more need for mechanical and electrical engineering staff these days.
She adds that the importation of non-local labour is meant to fill temporary gaps in manpower while prioritising local workers and ensuring construction works do not stall due to shortages in specific skill areas.
In the latest round of approvals, the government granted 986 imported worker quotas across ten applications -- all in severely short-handed trades, such as air-conditioning, refrigeration and fire safety engineering.
