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Discusses the political economy of the SARS epidemic and its impact on human resources in East Asia, as it occurred in 2003. The epidemic spread from the PR China, to Hong Kong, Singapore and Tairan, amongst other countries in East Asia and as far away as North America, particularly Canada, the EU and elsewhere.

Unemployment in China is now a serious and growing problem. In this context, Shanghai has been a pioneer in establishing re-employment service facilities. Starting from a local experiment, the Shanghai programme has been mooted by the Chinese authorities as a model to be replicated nation-wide. In this article, we propose an evaluation of this specific Re-employment Service Centre (zaijiuye fuwu zhongxin) programme, so as to shed light on the measures to be taken in combating urban unemployment. Our empirical field research in Shanghai took the form of over 50 open-ended, qualitative interviews with policy makers, managers, trade union representatives, workers and unemployed persons. Economic developments may make Shanghai seem distinctly special and shed light on the question of wider applicability of the Shanghai model. The replication of such a model has, in our view, only achieved mixed outcomes and the research findings suggest a degree of scepticism as to how far it can be extended.

Hong Kong suffered economically and socially from the Asian financial crisis. Due to the speculative attack on the Hong Kong dollar, which is pegged to the US dollar, businesses suffered from tight liquidity and high interest rates. The stock market as well as the property market plunged by more than 40 percent in less than nine months. Tourism and other consumption-related sectors such as retail and restaurants also suffered as a result of the depreciation of currencies in Japan and other Southeast Asian countries. Poor business performance led to mass lay-offs and retrenchment. However, the local workers rather than the guest workers were more adversely affected by the crisis. In spite of the guest workers' apparent marginality in the labor market, there have been hardly any reports of en masse retrenchment and repatriation of these workers. However, the chances of guest workers to obtain employment in Hong Kong may be on the downturn.

Public sector management in Hong Kong is facing major challenges as the territory has undergone substantial changes in the past four decades. A small government, following a policy of nonintervention in a colonial setting, has resulted in a highly structured system whereby it is more convenient to plan and coordinate administrative activities. This centralised structure and the prevailing role culture have combined to facilitate the implementation and institutionalisation of changes in the public service. Considering the experience and activities of selected government departments, it appears that there is a move toward more accountability and a consumer‐oriented approach to public sector management in Hong Kong. The new initiatives appear to be consistent with the needs and mood of the society and seem likely to persist in the future, despite an element of uncertainty stemming from the reversal of sovereignty to the People's Republic of China.