ANOTHER MONTH, another set of seemingly-painful unemployment figures and downsizing at enterprises, big and small. Since July, more than 2,200 workers were reported to have been jettisoned by their employers.
This month alone has seen, among other headline-hitting job cuts, 100 workers losing their jobs at the Hotel Inter-Continental (previously The Regent) and 80 workers shed by Gammon Construction.
A whiff of change is out there, along with calls by Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa's close aides urging locals to 'go north' to seek careers, in what is viewed as a co-ordinated campaign by the Tung administration.
In February, Nellie Fong Wong Kut-man, a member of Mr Tung's quasi-cabinet Executive Council, accused local people of being 'too lazy' and 'too dependent'. She advised youngsters to go to the mainland to seek jobs.
Mrs Fong's 'go north' call was echoed by Financial Secretary Antony Leung Kam-chung, and since then similar remarks have been made by officials. Michael Tien Puk-sun, chairman of the G2000 retail group and a brother of the chairman of the pro-business Liberal Party James Tien Pei-chun, recently called on firms to explore opportunities on the mainland.
Obviously, a shrinking economy does Hong Kong workers no favours. This is a tough moment at which radical reforms to improve the competitiveness of the SAR and its workforce are badly needed. But asking people to go to the north to seek jobs will not help, analysts have warned.