(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong’s jobless rate rose for the first time since 2017 in July, led by weakness in the retail and restaurant industries as the government warned of further pressure on the city’s slumping economy in the months ahead.
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 2.9%, including a “relatively notable increase” in the food and beverage service sector, the government said in a statement. The measure had held steady at 2.8% since April 2018.
“As the economy is expected to stay weak in the coming months, the local labor market will unavoidably be subject to greater pressure,” Secretary for Labour and Welfare Law Chi-kwong said in the release. “The import and export trade sector has been facing increasing pressure amid shrinking trade flows.”
Large-scale demonstrations starting in June that have led to violent confrontations between protesters and police, including an airport shutdown that affected hundreds of flights, have wracked Hong Kong’s economy during its worst political crisis in decades. The city’s gross domestic product contracted more than originally estimated in the second quarter, the government announced Aug. 16.
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