Hong Kong's April-June unemployment rises to 6.2%, highest in over 15 years

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 6.2% in the April-to-June period, the highest in more than 15 years, as the coronavirus outbreak restricted activity in an economy already in recession.

The jobless rate rose from 5.9% in the March to May period, the government said on Monday.

The underemployment rate hit 3.7%, the highest in close to 17 years, from 3.5% in the previous three-month rolling period. Total employment was 3.6204 million, about the same as compared with 3.6195 million in the previous three-month rolling period.

"The still serious epidemic situations in certain parts of the world, and renewed surge in local cases lately serve as a timely reminder that the economic outlook is still subject to huge uncertainties," Law Chi-Kwong, Secretary for Labour and Welfare, said in the statement.

(Reporting by Donny Kwok and Twinnie Siu; Editing by Toby Chopra)