The unemployment rate in Hong Kong has risen to 6.4 percent, the highest in nearly 16 years, the Census and Statistics Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government said Tuesday.

The labor market deteriorated for the third quarter of 2020 amid the third wave of COVID-19 outbreak in Hong Kong. As the overall economic situation remains weak and the global pandemic is still evolving, Secretary for Labor and Welfare Law Chi-kwong said the labor market will remain under pressure in the near term.

The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate increased by 0.3 percentage point from June-August 2020 to 6.4 percent in July-September 2020.

The unemployment rate increased across almost all the major economic sectors, with significant hikes observed in the retail, accommodation and food services sector, while the underemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.8 percent, official statistics showed.

The HKSAR government has rolled out unprecedented relief measures, including a series of measures on job retention and job creation, which help keep workers in employment, Law said.