Hong Kong‘s economy remains weak under the impact of the Epidemic, and unemployment continues to deteriorate, resulting in the latest unemployment rate rose 0.4 percentage points to 7%, a new high in nearly 17 years, 253,000 people fell into the ranks of the unemployed; in addition, the underemployment rate also rose 0.4 percentage points to 3.8% in the same period, is deeply affected by SARS (China’s atypical pneumonia) since the high in mid-2003, the number of affected people reached The number of people affected was 148,000. Officials admitted that the labor market is still under pressure, scholars more expected unemployment rate later or will rise to about 7.5%, urging the Financial Secretary in the budget to be announced next week to push boost measures to avoid deflation in Hong Kong.
The Census and Statistics Department announced yesterday (18) afternoon that the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose from 6.6% in October to December last year to 7% in November to January this year, only slightly lower than the last high of 7.1% in February to April 2004 at zero point one percentage point. Among the sectors, consumer and tourism-related industries (i.e., retail, accommodation and Food services) were the hardest hit, with the unemployment rate rising 0.7 percentage points to 11.3% and the underemployment rate rising sharply to a record high of 6.6%. If calculated by age, the unemployment rate for the age group of 24 or below continued to break 16%, hitting harder than other age groups.
The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr. Law Chi-kwong, said that the latest employment figures fell 0.5% to about 3.63 million compared to the previous period, while the economic activities affected by the epidemic will still take Time to return to normal, and the labor market will remain under pressure in the short term. In fact, unemployment CSSA cases continue to rise, rising to nearly 20,000 last month, an increase of about 57% year-on-year.
Economists and economic analysts generally believe that the unemployment rate has not yet peaked, because China and Hong Kong have not yet cleared customs, the recession has not yet stopped, plus many employers will lay off workers after the Lunar New Year, the unemployment rate will climb. Among them, Baptist University Department of Finance and Decision Sciences Associate Professor Mak Chui Choi predicted that the next unemployment rate may rise to about 7.2%; Chinese University of Business School Senior Lecturer Lee Siu-por estimated that the unemployment rate may rise to 7.4% to 7.5% later. Lee even predicted that with the vaccination program will soon begin, Hong Kong and Shenzhen customs clearance can be expected, but with the neighboring regions of the “tourism bubble” plan is unlikely to be realized before the middle of the year, that is, the monthly loss of tourism and retail more than 10 billion yuan will continue, it is believed that the unemployment rate is likely to fall only in the third and fourth quarter of this year.
Li Zhaobo also said that the unemployed population exceeded 250,000, or the public’s desire to reduce consumption, the Hong Kong government is recommended to introduce unemployment assistance to boost the public consumption atmosphere and livelihood-related industries, so as to avoid deflation.
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