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.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
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