MACAO - Macao's unemployment rate during the February-April period held stable at 2 percent from the January-March period, according to the figures released Monday by the city's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

The number of unemployed remained unchanged at 6,900, with 12.1 percent being fresh labor force entrants searching for their first job, down by 0.3 percentage point, the figures indicated.

On a year-on-year basis, the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate dropped by 0.7 and 0.6 percentage point respectively, while the labor force participation rate rose by 0.8 percentage points, according to the DSEC.

The city's total labor force was 345,000 in the period, and the labor force participation rate stood at 72.4 percent, with total employment decreasing by 1,600 over the previous period to 338,000.

The number of people employed in the hotel sector registered increase, while that of real estate, business service, gaming and retails sectors registered decrease, the DSEC said.