Poverty in Hong Kong

Home| Geography and History| The Education System| Real Estate and Stock Exchange| Elders and Healthcare| About Us|

UNEMPLOYMENT IN HONG KONG

Statistics of Unemployment in Hong Kong

About 200,000 people in Hong Kong don't have a job. In 2005, an estimated 5.6 % of the population was classified as unemployed. The next year, in 2006, the rate dropped to 4.8%. In 2007, the unemployment reached an all new low at 4.0%. The percents are estimated to drop even lower in 2008 and the near future to 3.4%. Although unemployment rates are decreasing and the percentages are small, these rates can cause problems and grew significantly after some time.

Stopping Unemployment

The Plan

better education at younger years
training the unemployment

Pros and Cons

Plan Pros Cons

Better Education People will know how to do what you teach them, giving them confidence to get a job in that field. It costs money for teachers and educators.
Training and Retraining the Unemployed The unemployed will be more experienced. It costs money for trainers.

Schools Trying to Help

A school in Hong Kong called Poinsettia School sets many goals to acheive the two points above. They try to promote kids to advance to further schooling and how dropping out may cause unemployment. They also promote understanding of the world and what their role in it is. Lastly, they try to enforce being a good person and being independent as you grow and get a job.
Poinsettia School in Hong Kong

Insurance Plans

Retirement Plans

Retirement plans can be very useful when you want to stop working as you age. The bad part of this is that only around 20% of current working citizens can apply for one. Employers can help employees with 10% of the cost.
Unemployment Insurance

Unemployment payments are only for people who are registered with the Local Employment Service. These may be family or individuals. Once they are signed up with this service, they may receive payments.

Children Living in a Low-Income Household

Statistics

In 1991, 17.1% of the population of children (age 0-14) lived in a low-income, poor household as opposed to 13% in the U.S. In 1996, 22.8% of the population of children lived in a low-income household and only 14% did in the U.S. at that time. In 1998, the rate was 26.8% in Hong Kong, but in the U.S. it was about 13%. The percentage was 25.9% in 2000 and for the U.S., it was roughly 12%. Two years later, in 2002, about 25.5% of the child population dwelled in a poor family household. In 2005, it was 17.7%.

Conclusion
Why is Hong Kong's low-income household rates higher than the United States'? Hong Kong has a very large population for such a small area. It all goes back to this situation with money. Money cannot be just made all the time, being given to everybody left and right. The more money there is, the less a piece of money is worth. Because there are so many people, businesses may not be able to provide so much money. In the U.S., the population is bigger, but because the United States is so big, the ratio of population to land shrinks. Therefore, if you multiplied Hong Kong's land to the amount of land the U.S. has, the population of Hong Kong would be bigger. Then, money will be harder to get, considering the statements above. Another factor is that Hong Kong is just a city and might not perform as well as a whole country because of size and location factors.

More Economic and Trade Information Stopping Unemployment

Plan	Pros	Cons
Better Education	People will know how to do what you teach them, giving them confidence to get a job in that field.	It costs money for teachers and educators.
Training and Retraining the Unemployed	The unemployed will be more experienced.	It costs money for trainers.