Macao's unemployment rate for the period of July to September 2011 held stable at 2.6 percent, the same as the previous period of June to August 2011, according to the figures released on Thursday by the city's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).
The number of the unemployed reached 8,900, with 16.6 percent being fresh labor force entrants searching for their first job, up by 1.3 percentage points over the previous period, the figures indicated.
In comparison with the same period of the previous year, the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate dropped by 0.3 and 0.6 percentage point respectively, while the labor force participation rate rose by 0.7 percentage point, according to the DSEC.
The city's total labor force stood at 344,000 in the period, with the labor force participation rate at 72.5 percent.
The employed increased by 300 over the previous period to 335,000, in which employment of Transport, Storage and Communications sector saw increase, while that of Retail trade and Gaming sector registered decrease, the DSEC also said./.