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Hong Kong's unemployment rate hits 16-yr high
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IANS | 19 Jan, 2021
Hong Kong's unemployment rate hit a 16-year high in the period between
October-December 2020 as the fourth wave of the Covid-19 pandemic
further compounded the city's labour market situation, official data
revealed on Tuesday.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate
rose from 6.3 per cent in the September-November period to 6.6 per cent
in the October-December period, the city's Census and Statistics
Department said in a statement. Meanwhile, the underemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.4 per cent, Xinhua news agency reported.
Law
Chi-kwong, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, said the unemployment rate
in the consumption- and tourism-related sectors, including retail,
accommodation and food services, rebounded by 0.5 percentage point to
10.6 per cent in the October-December period.
The Secretary added
that the situation in the food and beverage services sector was the
most severe, with the jobless rate being up to 13.8 per cent.
The unemployment rate in many other sectors also rose, Law said.
Looking
ahead, Law predicted that the labour market will remain under notable
pressure in the near term as the coronavirus pandemic will continue to
weigh on local consumption sentiment and disrupt economic activities.
The
Hong Kong government has rolled out targeted measures to provide
further support to the hard-hit sectors, and will continue to monitor
the situation closely, Law said.
Earlier this month, Hong Kong
authorities launched an employment scheme to encourage local college
graduates to pursue their careers in the mainland cities of the
Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
The scheme involves
as many as 2,000 job opportunities with government granting enterprises
for each graduate they employed a monthly allowance of HK$10,000
($1,290) for up to 18 months.
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Customs Exchange Rates |
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As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
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