- Hong Kong’s jobless rate dropped 0.2 percent to 5.3 percent in October, a four-year low. The rate represented a 1.4- percent decrease from October 2004. “The unemployment situation improved further in August-October 2005, as employment growth continued to outstrip the labor force growth,” said a government spokesman in a press release. “New jobs were found not only in the service sectors such as the import/export trades, transport, and miscellaneous personal services, but also in the local manufacturing and construction sectors.”
- Japan’s core consumer price index (CPI) for October was unchanged from the previous month. This continues a seven-year trend of CPI remaining unchanged or falling from the month earlier, and it could lead to the Bank of Japan ending its ultra-loose monetary policy. Japan is also consideringmodifying its core CPI to exclude food and fuel. The existing index excludes only food.
- Australia’s October unemployment rate increased 0.1 percent to 9.8 percent from the previous month and was unchanged from the same month a year earlier.
- Japan’s economy grew 0.2 percent in Q3 from the previous quarter, according to preliminary data. The growth rate was 3 percent compared to 2004. The country’s unemployment rate for October fell 0.1 percent from September to 4.2 percent — 0.4 percent lower than October 2004.
- Singapore’s GDP for the third quarter rose 9.7 percent compared to the same quarter in 2004.
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