Affected by the epidemic and political turmoil, Hong Kong’s livelihood has been greatly affected. The government announced that the unemployment rate rose to 6.6%, a 16-year high. The total number of unemployed and underemployed is close to 380,000. But at the same time, funds from mainland China continue to go south to “sweep”, Hong Kong stocks significantly better, breaking through a number of key levels one after another.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose from 6.3% in September-November 2020 to 6.6% in October-December 2020, a 16-year high for Hong Kong, the Census and Statistics Department announced on Tuesday. The underemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.4% over the two periods.
The number of unemployed persons (not seasonally adjusted) rose by about 1,500 from 244,300 in September-November 2020 to 245,800 in October-December 2020. The number of underemployed also rose from 133,100 to 133,800 over the same period, an increase of about 700. The total number of unemployed and underemployed was 379,600.
According to the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, the unemployment rate for consumer and tourism-related industries (i.e. retail, accommodation and food services) combined rose by 0.5 percentage points to 10.6% in October-December 2020, compared with September-November. In particular, the unemployment rate in the food service activities sector rose to 13.8%. Unemployment rates in several other industries also rose.
The Hong Kong travel agency, East Tours, announced on Tuesday that it laid off all tour guides, involving 120 people.
Also on Tuesday, the Hang Seng Index expanded to more than 700 points, rising through the level of 29,500 points, a new high of more than 1.5 years. Hong Kong stocks closed up 779 points at 29,642 points, with a main board turnover of HK$301.6 billion, a record high. Tuesday’s total turnover of HK$99.07 billion in North Water, also a record high, Hong Kong stocks for every 3 transactions will have 1 yuan for the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. As for Tuesday’s net buying of North Water reached 26.592 billion Hong Kong dollars.
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