A helpline for young people has for the first time had to counsel callers considering suicide because of unemployment.
Between July and September, the Youth Line received 58 calls from young people who could not find jobs. Of those, two men and one woman said they were contemplating suicide.
The hotline is operated by the Hong Kong Federation for Youth Groups.
This year 436 people, mostly in their 20s, have called because they have been laid off, compared to 337 last year.
A few said they would resort to crime such as robbery or selling pirated CDs, or work as nightclub hostesses, youth counsellor Hsu Siu-man said.
Federation supervisor Anita Lam Siu-fung said callers were told they were good enough to have jobs, but that the current market was highly competitive.
