Macao's unemployment rate for the period between January and March stood at 2.9 percent, the same level as the previous period of December 2009 to February 2010, according to figures released on Tuesday by the city's Statistics and Census Service ( DSEC).

The DSEC figures indicated that Macao's total labor force was 323,300 during the period with the labor force participation rate standing at 71.1 percent.

The number of the unemployed increased by about 300 from the previous period to 9,500, with 5.9 percent being fresh labor force entrants searching for their first job, according to the DSEC.

Local employed population increased slightly by 600 over the previous period to 313,800, the figure indicated.