Epidemics,labour markets and unemployment: the impact of SARS on human resource management in the Hong Kong service sector |
| |
| Authors: | Grace OM Lee Malcolm Warner |
| |
| Institution: | 1. Department of Public &2. , Social Administration, City University of Hong Kong , Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon , Hong Kong E-mail: sagrace@cityu.edu.hk sagrace@cityu.edu.hk;4. Wolfson College and Judge Institute of Management, University of Cambridge E-mail: m.warner@jims.cam.ac.uk |
| |
| Abstract: | This article examines the links between epidemics and their economic consequences, specifically in terms of their impacts on labour markets and jobs. To exemplify the above, we examine the effects of SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) on the Hong Kong economy, its labour market and its level of employment and unemployment. The article hypothesizes that the greatest impact would be on human resource management (HRM) in the service industries and on particular sub-sectors, such as the hotel sector. It concludes that the dramatic demand and supply ‘shocks’ significantly affected both the demand for and the supply of labour in the sector, with discernible HRM consequences. |
| |
| Keywords: | Asian economy epidemics employment Hong Kong hotel sector human resource management (HRM) labour market People's Republic of China (PRC) Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) service sector uncertainty unemployment |
|
|
