HONG KONG: The jobless rate has hit a 41-month high, sneaking up a 10th of a percentage point during February to April to 5.3 percent. There's small solace in the fact that the 0.1 percent increase is the lowest since the global financial crisis hit late last year, government figures showed.

The construction industry took the hardest hit with the jobless rate climbing to 12.7 per cent for the three-month period. That's up 1.5 percentage point compared with the first quarter of the year.

Retail, accommodation and food services sectors fared better than the construction industry - but the picture in those sectors was far from rosy, with the overall unemployment rate reaching 7 percent.

The jobless rate for the manufacturing industry rose to 6.9 percent, up 0.7 percentage point compared with the first quarter.

Some 9,700 more people were thrown out of work from February to April, pushing the jobless total to 196,900. In the midst of the darkening picture, the labour force swelled to its all-time high of some 3,699,000 people. That number of workers increased by 4,100.

The underemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage point to 2.2 percent for February-April.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Matthew Cheung Kin-chung predicted the unemployment rate would remain high in the short term. Demand remains weak as the impact of the economic recession cuts deeper. The imminent threat of an outbreak of human swine flu compounds the ongoing woes.

"To preserve employment, we will continue to promote infrastructure projects. The administration plans to apply for funding from the Legislative Council for works projects worth HK$100 billion before the recess of the current Legislative Council (LegCo) session," he said.

Cheung said the government had secured funding of HK$52 billion from the LegCo public works subcommittee for those projects so far.

"We believe that these projects will create employment opportunities shortly and give fresh impetus to the economy. Moreover, we expect that our economy and labour situation will improve alongside the implementation of the major infrastructure projects next year," he said.

Choi Chun-wa, the chairman of the Construction Industry Employees General Union, said the government was slow to roll out new construction projects and he warned that the mounting jobless rate might lead to more difficulties for workers at home.

Luk Kwan-ngai, chairman of the Construction Industry Bar-bending Workers Union, urged the government to push through major infrastructure projects like the development of the West Kowloon cultural center as soon as possible to help ease the jobless total.

Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen promised last week to roll out relief measures in a month to combat the economic downturn. Cheung yesterday said the new programs would be designed to help ease the pressure on employment.

Li Kui-wai, associate professor at City University's economics and finance department, expressed the hope the government would advance policies to create more job opportunities rather than devise handouts like consumption vouchers.

But unionist lawmaker Wong Kwok-hing called for distribution of consumption vouchers and he predicted the jobless rate would reach between 6 and 7 percent within a few months.

Legislator Lee Cheuk-yan called on authorities to subsidise non-governmental groups to hire more people during the financial turmoil.

(HK Edition 05/20/2009 page1)