Macao's unemployment rate for the period of August to October 2011 fell to 2.4 percent, the lowest since the establishment of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) in 1999, according to the figures released on Monday by the city's Statistics and Census Service (DSEC).

The figure was down by 0.2 percentage points over the previous period of July to September 2011, said the DSEC.

The number of the unemployed decreased by 600 from the previous period to 8,300, with 16.4 percent being fresh labor force entrants searching for their first job, down by 0.2 percentage points over the previous period, the figures indicated.

In comparison with the same period of the previous year, the unemployment rate and the underemployment rate dropped by 0.5 and 0.6 percentage points, respectively, while the labor force participation rate rose by 1.3 percentage points, according to the DSEC.

The city's total labor force stood at 346,600 in the period, with the labor force participation rate reaching a historical high of 73 percent.

The employed population increased by 2,900 over the previous period to 338,200, in which employment of Gaming sector and Hotel sector registered increase, the DSEC also said.