Hong Kong  - Jobs are being lost at a rate of nearly 1,000 a week in Hong Kong as the global economic slump rocks the wealthy former British colony, a survey claimed Monday.

Nearly 6,000 jobs have been lost in the last six weeks, and another 4,600 job losses have already been announced for the weeks and months ahead, according to the study by the South China Morning Post.

The sector hardest hit by the slump is the financial sector, where 1,780 jobs have been lost already, the newspaper said in a study of job losses across the city of 6.9 million people.

More than 1,300 jobs have been lost in the property and construction sector, while 1,029 jobs have gone in the restaurant industry and 929 in retailing.

Hong Kong's jobless rate will edge toward 4 per cent from its current 3.5 per cent as the impact of the downturn is felt in the weeks and months ahead, the newspaper predicted.

One effect of the slump is that expatriates are leaving Hong Kong in what could turn out to be their biggest exodus since the 2003 SARS crisis, according to the newspaper.

A removals firm specializing in expatriates said it had seen a 65- per-cent jump in outbound orders in November compared to the same month last year and expected a
100-per-cent year-on-year increase for December.

Hong Kong, which last month officially went into recession, has seen property prices slumping and shares shedding almost 40 per cent of their value since September. (dpa)