MACAO, Jan. 29 (Xinhua) -- The general unemployment rate of China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) in 2018 was 1.8 percent, down by 0.2 percentage point year-on-year, the SAR's statistic service said here on Tuesday.

The latest report from the Statistics and Census Service (DSEC) showed that the unemployment rate of local residents was 2.4 percent, down by 0.3 percentage point year-on-year. Median monthly employment earnings of the employed (16,000 patacas or 1,982 U.S. dollars) and employed residents (20,000 patacas or 2,477 U.S. dollars) each went up by 1,000 patacas (about 124 U.S. dollars) year-on-year.

Regarding household employment, average number of employed persons per household was 1.7 in 2018, the same as in 2017. Median monthly employment earnings per household rose by 1,600 patacas (about 198 U.S. dollars) year-on-year to 30,000 patacas (about 3,716 U.S. dollars).

In the fourth quarter of 2018, the general unemployment rate (1.7 percent) went down by 0.1 percentage point from the previous quarter, while the unemployment rate of local residents (2.4 percent) remained unchanged. Total employment in the fourth quarter increased by 400 quarter-to-quarter, of which number of employed residents dropped by 1,500.

Analyzed by industry, employment in the transport, storage and communications sector (20,600) increased by 1,000, while that in hotels and similar activities (30,100) decreased by 1,400. Meanwhile, median monthly employment earnings of the employed (16,000 patacas) and employed residents (20,000 patacas) held stable quarter-to-quarter.