A government spokesman said the labor market conditions continued to improve as employment growth remained faster than labor force growth in the most recent period.

However, he noted that whether or not the unemployment rate will decline further in the near term still depends on the over all economic performance and particularly job creation in the corporate sector.

The spokesman said the decline in the unemployment rate came on the heel of a visible pick-up in economic activities, especially on the external front, in recent months.

He said that total exports of goods, having increased by 6 percent in real terms in the second quarter of 2002 over a year earlier, had an even larger growth of 11 percent in the third quarter.

Inbound tourism continued to fare strongly with a year-on-year growth of 13 percent in the second quarter, rising to 22 percent in the third quarter.

Exports of services remained robust, in line with the substantial increase in incoming visitors and continued surge in offshore trade.

The spokesman also noted the drop in the number of unemployed youths. This was largely attributable to the various government employment initiatives including the Youth Work Experience and Training Scheme, he said.

Since the launch of the Scheme in July this year, over 3,500 youngsters have been placed into jobs. Another 2,000 trainees are expected to get jobs in the next few weeks.

(Xinhua News Agency November 18, 2002)