More than 1,000 jobs have been lost in less than two weeks as restaurants, karaoke bars, banks and media organisations struggle to survive the downturn.
Over the past 10 days, at least eight companies and organisations in various sectors, including airlines, the media, telecommunications, catering and entertainment have closed or laid off staff.
Figures compiled by the Labour Department show that 20,500 victims of the shrinking economy sought help from the department in the first 10 months of the year.
The department has handled 141 labour disputes concerning bankruptcy, business closures and redundancies in the same period, representing a 40 per cent rise over last year.
Li Kui-wai, an associate professor in the department of economics and finance at City University, warned that the wave of lay-offs was likely to mushroom by March, after the Lunar New Year.
'The SAR is now deadlocked in a vicious cycle with diving purchasing power and lay-offs which reinforce each other. We don't know when we will hit the bottom and how long that we'll stay there,' he said.
