Hong Kong’s unemployment rate stayed at the lowest level in 13 years, bolstering the city’s growth and helping it avoid a recession.

The rate for the three months ended September was 3.2 percent, unchanged from the period through August, the government said on its website today. That was less than the median 3.3 percent estimate of 12 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

An influx of mainland Chinese tourists into the city and rising wages boosted local consumption, helping the economy counter slower global expansion. Financial Secretary John Tsang said Oct. 16 the prospect of weaker growth in the U.S. and the European debt crisis, which has led to sell-offs in global stock markets, have already hurt Hong Kong’s economy via weaker exports demand.

“Underpinned by strong domestic and Chinese demand, Hong Kong’s job market continues to hire, defying turbulence in global financial markets,” Donna Kwok, an economist at HSBC Holdings Plc, said before today’s report. “The effects of weakening Western demand will likely start cooling local hiring activities soon.”

Median monthly household income rose about 9 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier, according to the government, after Hong Kong introduced the minimum wage of HK$28 ($3.6) per hour in May.

There are risks of a recession, Chief Executive Donald Tsang said last week, citing uncertainties from Europe and the U.S. Morgan Stanley and Daiwa Capital Markets say the city’s gross domestic product will contract again in the third quarter on slowing export growth, after the economy shrank 0.5 percent during April through June from the previous period.

Source: Bloomberg