Financial Secretary Donald Tsang Yam-kuen yesterday warned of a 'severe economic situation', as experts predicted the latest jobless rate would hit 4.8 per cent.
Speaking after the third meeting of the Government's taskforce on unemployment, Mr Tsang said there was little chance the latest jobless figures, to be announced next week, would improve.
'The Asian financial crisis is still with us. We are looking forward to a coming quarter [which] will be very tough indeed.' Francis Lui Ting-ming, taskforce member and University of Science and Technology Centre for Economic Development director, said the latest unemployment rate could be 4.7 to 4.8 per cent.
'I expect the unemployment rate to continue to go up in the next few months and will be between five and 5.5 per cent in September. I hope that's the peak but I'm not sure,' Dr Lui said.
Mr Tsang said that in the wake of the difficulty Form Five graduates were facing in getting a job, more than 2,000 places would be offered for further study or vocational training.
A one-year full-time certificate programme would provide 1,000 study places for F5 school-leavers at the seven Vocational Training Council technical institutes.
