Unemployment rate in Hong Kong slightly lower

Financial Secretary Henry Tang (唐英年) warned yesterday that Hong Kong's unemployment problem is structural and still had to be resolved despite recent declines in the jobless rate.

Tang said on a local television report that he welcomed the drop in the unemployment rate to 8 percent for the three months to October from 8.3 percent in the previous three-month period. Hong Kong will benefit from continued economic growth in China and the gradual rebound in the US, he said.

Hong Kong's unemployment rate hit a record high of 8.7 percent in the three months to July in the wake of the outbreak of SARS.

The government raised its economic growth forecast for the year to 3 percent last month from the previous estimate of 2 percent.