August 19, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-us-Sani 20, 1424

HONG KONG, Aug 18: Hong Kong’s unemployment rate rose to a record 8.7 per cent in the three months ending July 31, as new graduates flooded an already tight labour market in the lingering aftermath of the Sars crisis, the government said on Monday.

Some 309,000 people were out of work during the three-month period, the Census and Statistics Department said. It said the unemployment rate “would remain high as a result of the continued entry of fresh graduates and school leavers into the labour market.”

But officials predict a post-Sars recovery in tourism will improve Hong Kong’s economy and the labour market.—APP