Hong Kong Labor force reached a record high by the end of last year while the demand for workers remained high with the economy continued to grow, according to information from Hong Kong Census & Statistics Department Thursday.

The department said, the number of people with jobs reached a record high of 3.432 million for the October-December 2005 period as the number of jobless declined to its lowest level in 52 months.

For 2005 as a whole, the jobless rate averaged 5.6 percent, well below the 6.8 percent in 2004. This was due to faster growth in total employment than the growth in the total labor force.

The department expected that labor demand would stay firm in the run-up to the Lunar New Year.

Source: Xinhua