The low-paying textile and clothing industry employs most people. Next are electronics and toy assembly. Many thousands of skilled workers are employed by banking and financial institutions. The workers do not have the right to union representation of their choice. Housing is crowded and unsafe.
Rents are the highest in the world.
More than a million people live crowded in places with more than seven people per room. Over half a million are homeless or live as squatters in shacks on mountainsides, shores or highway underpasses. Thousands even live in tiny wire cages five feet high and seven feet long. All the wealth of British imperialism in Asia moved through this city because British administrators totally controlled the whole political and economic structure. After the 1949 Chinese Revolution broke the imperialist powers' hold on mainland China, Hong Kong's importance grew.