All six analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires said they expect the jobless rate would decline to 5.1 percent in the February to April period. A year earlier, the unemployment rate stood at 5.9 percent in the three months ended in April. Hong Kong is expected to issue the latest jobs data tomorrow.

Economists said the forecast jobless rate somewhat hides the extent to which the job market is improving, because while more workers are being employed, more people are also looking for work. As a measure of that, economists said they expect total employment in Hong Kong in the three months ended in April grew from 3.42 million in the January-March period, a figure roughly equivalent to 50 percent of its population.

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