Less than one in 10 Hong Kong workers expects a pay rise

Hong Kong - Less than one in 10 Hong Kong workers expects a pay rise in 2009 as the global economic slump takes its toll on the former British colony, a survey found Thursday.

Only 7 per cent of workers surveyed said they expected to get a raise compared to 36 per cent in the same survey in 2008 when the city's economy was buoyant.

Twenty-eight per cent of respondents to the survey conducted by a pro-democracy organisation said they expected to see their pay cut in 2009, compared to just 5 per cent in 2008.

Only 12 per cent of interviewees said they were upbeat about the economic prospects for the city of 6.9 million in the coming year, researchers said.

Unemployment in Hong Kong has risen to more than 4 per cent since the city officially went into recession at the end of 2008. Share prices have slumped by more than 50 per cent in the past 12 months.//dpa