RPT-PREVIEW-Hong Kong Jan-March unemployment seen at 5.4 pct

* What: Hong Kong January-March unemployment rate

* When: Monday, April 20, at 4.30 p.m. (0830 GMT)

* Jobless rate seen rising to 5.4 percent

HONG KONG, April 17 - Hong Kong's jobless rate probably jumped to 5.4 percent in January-March, its highest level since late 2005 as lay-offs accelerated amid a deepening economic recession, a Reuters survey showed on Friday.

Rising unemployment, which in December-February stood at 5 percent, is hurting consumer spending and aggravating a recession that began in the third quarter of last year.

Companies have been laying off staff across the board as the financial sector has been hit by global headcount cuts at investment banks while exports have plunged this year as global demand has deteriorated. In February, exports dropped 23 percent -- the worst performance since 1954.

Bankruptcies have surged as a result. In March, bankruptcies more than doubled from the same month last year, hitting a six-year high at 1,872, government data showed on Friday.

Hang Seng Bank expects the jobless rate to rise to 7 percent.

"Local employment prospects are dim in the near-term, as global trading and economic activities remain in contraction mode," said Joanne Yim, Hang Seng Bank's chief economist. "Recent U.S. and European leading economic indicators seem to offer glimmers of hope, but they may turn out to be false dawns."

If the jobless rate hits 7 percent, that would still be well below a record high of 8.5 percent when Hong Kong was last in recession in the spring of 2003 as the SARS virus shattered confidence. However, it is rising at a sharp pace, having jumped from a decade-low of 3.2 percent last summer and that is making people fear for their jobs and rein in spending, analysts say.

A Reuters poll forecasts the economy will contract 3 percent this year, its first full-year decline since 1998 and after averaging annual growth of 6.3 percent over the past five years.

Forecasts for the January-March unemployment rate, seasonally adjusted on a three-month rolling average: ING Financial Mkts 5.1 Hang Seng Bank 5.3 Standard Chartered Bank 5.3 Bank of East Asia 5.4 HSBC 5.4 UBS 5.5 ---------------------------- Median 5.4