Dah Sing Financial: The local employment market has not fully improved, and the unemployment rate may hover below 4% in the coming months

Dah Sing Financial Group's Chief Economist and Strategist, Wen Jiawei, stated that the latest unemployment rate in Hong Kong has decreased by 0.1 percentage points to 3.8%, lower than the market and the bank's expectation of 4%. The number of unemployed has decreased by 6,000 to slightly below 150,000, marking the first decline since January. The unemployment rates across various industries have generally decreased, with a significant drop in the unemployment rate related to consumption and tourism, falling from 5.9% to 5.5%; the financial industry and professional and business services both decreased by 0.3 percentage points to 3.6% and 2.6%, respectively.

Overall, the latest unemployment rate in Hong Kong has slightly retreated from a three-year high, and the overall employed population has recorded a slight decrease, but the reduction is smaller than the decline in the labor force, resulting in the number of unemployed falling for the first time in nine months. This reflects that the employment market has not fully improved, and there have been no significant changes in hiring across various industries. As the year comes to a close, there may be signs of improvement in the local retail consumption market, and the stock and property markets are showing signs of recovery, with new stock fundraising activities warming up, which is expected to gradually stabilize the hiring intentions in related industries. The bank expects the unemployment rate in Hong Kong to hover below 4% in the coming months