Expect jobless rate to worsen in Hong Kong, finance chief warns, while also cautioning against excessive pessimism

Hong Kong’s unemployment rate is likely to worsen, the finance chief has said, while cautioning there is no need to be “too pessimistic” as long as the fifth wave of the coronavirus pandemic continues to decline.

Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po on Sunday also said the government would reveal the unemployment rate covering February to April this week, with the figure expected to reflect the continuing impact of the pandemic on business.

The fifth wave of Covid-19 has infected more than 1.2 million people and killed over 9,300 residents, forcing authorities to extend and tighten stringent social-distancing rules. While the government has introduced some relaxations, such as ending travel curbs on international arrivals, those steps only came last month.

Looking back over the past two years, Chan noted the jobless rate had swung sharply, in both directions. In 2020, for example, the unemployment rate jumped from 3.4 per cent to 6 per cent, he said.

“In 2021, it triple-dipped from a high of 7.2 per cent to 6 per cent, 5 per cent and 4 per cent at the end of the year,” he wrote on his official blog. “But in 2022, it jumped to over 5 per cent within a few months.”

The 5 per cent jobless rate for the three months ending in March was the highest in nine months. But Chan remained positive about the figure for the coming months, citing the waning coronavirus pandemic.