A worker pushes a loaded handcart along a street at Va Tai neighbourhood in Macao on July 26, 2023. (PHOTO / AFP)

MACAO — Macao's general unemployment rate from September to November was 2.3 percent, down slightly by 0.1 percentage points from the August-October period, the special administrative region's statistics department said on Friday.

The latest report from Macao's Statistics and Census Service said the unemployment rate of local residents was 2.9 percent, down by 0.2 percentage points from the August-October period.

The proportion of people seeking first job decreased by 0.4 percentage points to 14.3 percent of the total unemployed

The underemployment rate dropped by 0.1 percentage points to 1.4 percent, while the labor force participation rate was 68.4 percent.

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The labor force living in Macao totaled 380,700 people from September to November. Total employment was 372,000 and the number of employed residents totaled 287,800, up by 1,500 and 400, respectively, from the previous period.

The number of unemployed decreased by 500 from the previous period to 8,600.

Meanwhile, the proportion of people seeking first job decreased by 0.4 percentage points to 14.3 percent of the total unemployed.

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The number of underemployed dropped by 200 from the previous period to 5,400.