Social-security assistance cases dropped slightly, from 299,064 in September to 298,952 in October, the Social Welfare Department says.

The number of jobless receiving comprehensive social- security assistance continued to fall, with 42,510 cases last month, down 0.1% on September. Cases involving single-parent families also dropped 0.3% to 40,032.

Cases involving the low-income group grew 0.3% to 17,963 while those involving the disabled rose 0.3% to 17,441. Cases involving the aged rose 0.1％ to 151,723.

Cases involving the aged accounted for 50.8% of the total, while the jobless acounted for 14.2% and single-parent families accounted for 13.4%.