Unemployment in Hong Kong surges as economy sinks

Hong Kong's unemployment rate surged to a record high 7.7 percent in the April-June quarter, the government announced yesterday, in a fresh dose of bad news that further dimmed hopes for an economic recovery.

Just a year ago, the unemployment rate was still at 4.6 percent. But it has climbed higher amid the global slump, which has hit Hong Kong's export-oriented economy especially hard.

The unemployment rate in January to March was 7.4 percent, which was a previous record.

The government predicted that unemployment would "stay high in the short term" and it pledged to make tackling the problem a "matter of priority."

Job losses rose extensively across the economy, the Census and Statistics Department said, naming construction and maintenance, restaurants, manufacturing, real estate, wholesaling and communications as the worst affected sectors.

Layoffs have hit both white and blue collar workers. In the latest of a slew of job cuts, Matilda Hospital, a private hospital located amid luxury apartment blocks on the Peak, announced Monday it was firing 25 employees, about 10 percent of its staff, as it struggles to survive amid the prolonged economic downturn.

Doctors, who operate independently, were not affected.

Hong Kong has looked to a US rebound to support its own recovery, but recent turmoil in stock and currency markets and reports of corporate accounting scandals in the US have dimmed those expectations.