One in three people is unimpressed with the Government's efforts to tackle unemployment, according to a telephone poll.
Many respondents favoured an increase in infrastructure spending and extra cash to help small and medium-sized firms, but opposed cutting corporate tax to lure more foreign investors to Hong Kong.
The poll of 955 people, carried out by the China-Hong Kong Interactive Association - a non-government think-tank - found that 33 per cent were dissatisfied with government efforts to resolve high unemployment, with the jobless rate having risen to a record 7.4 per cent on Monday. Only six per cent said the authorities had done a good job, while the rest were indifferent or expressed no opinion. Sixty-one per cent said the Government should reinforce infrastructure investment to create more jobs, against 27 per cent opposing such a move.
The poll also found 79 per cent were in favour of using taxpayers' money to provide more help to small and medium-sized firms to keep them afloat with low- or zero-interest loans. But more than 60 per cent said there was no need to cut corporate tax further to lure foreign investment. The rate has stood at 16 per cent since April 1998. Only 27 per cent supported a cut in the tax.
The association's chairman, Fred Ip Kai-ming, said many opposed a further cut in corporate tax because they felt such a move might not produce the necessary results and could end up doing more harm than good.
'Lowering corporate tax might attract some foreign investment on the one hand, but the Government could risk losing more tax revenue at a time when the fiscal deficit is . . . critical,' he said.