On Thursday';s Backchat, unemployment and the civil servants' pay rise.
The jobless rate has increased to 5.2%, the highest in more than a decade. Meanwhile the
Government-appointed Pay Trend Survey Committee is recommending increases of 1.15 percent for junior civil servants, 1.98 for middle-ranking workers, and 1.68 for senior staff.

The proposed pay rises come after the Hong Kong Chinese Civil Servants' Union called for
salaries to be frozen in light of the damage the Covid-19 pandemic is wreaking to the SAR's economy.

What do you make of the unemployment figures? Should Civil Servants get their rise?

From 9:15am-9:30am, NPC and CPPCC sessions in Beijing.
As the meetings kick off, we'll talk about current issues likely to be discussed this year.

8:30-9:15 unemployment and civil servants' pay rise

8:30-9:00 Felix Chung, lawmaker and Liberal Party leader
8:30-9:15 Eddy Lau, Vice-President of SME Global Alliance
8:30-9:15 :Vera Yuen, Assistant Lecturer, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Hong Kong

9:15-9:30 CPPCC and NPC
Chris Yeung, Chief Writer, Citizen News