HONG KONG -- Madam Lor Combs Hong Kong's markets for the cheapest vegetables she can find and says she will soon give up her home phone as the charges are too high.

"I may have lived one life so far but I've worked several lifetimes," said the former dishwasher and odd-job worker, 67.

She hasn't found a paying job in five years, a period in which the territory of 6.8 million has been hit by two recessions.

One may spot more rolls Royce's per capita in Hong Kong than anywhere else, but behind the glamour 30 percent of its families, or 1.75 million people, live below the poverty line, Reuters reported.

Hong Kong has always had its share of poverty but officials have traditionally seen the problem as so marginal they never bothered to define it.

Even today, the government has no official definition of the poverty line. Researchers, however, believe it to be around HK$3,750 (U.S.$480) a person a month.

**** Dark Ages **** With unemployment at a record 7.7 percent and poised to go higher in coming months, many find life increasingly tough.

Some have not been able to find jobs for years.

A survey of 3,086 low-income households by the city university over the period from September 1999 to January 2001 showed 40 percent avoid taking buses, a cheap mode of transport.

A third don't turn on the lights at home even when necessary, and close to a quarter buy food just before the markets shut to take advantage of cheaper prices near closing time.

Almost 32 percent cannot afford to give "red packets" -- or small tokens of money to wish recipients well on auspicious days.

Ten percent cannot afford medicine.

Wong Hung, social studies lecturer at the City University, said income disparity has worsened over the last decade.

The poorest 10 percent of families -- with less than hk$6,000 a month -- claimed 0.9 percent of all income earned in 2001, down from 1.3 percent in 1991, according to government statistics.

The richest 10 percent -- more than hk$60,000 a month -- had a 41.2 percent share of all income earned in 2001, up to 37.3 percent in 1991.

"The real situation would be even worse if we took into account assets owned by the rich," Wong said.

Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa said at the start of his second term in July he would do all he could to help the poor and marginalized, but there has been little concrete action so far.

Laborers, civil servants, homeowners and even doctors have hit the streets to stage protests in recent years, urging the government to create jobs and to stop exploitation at work.

Scuffles broke out last month when construction workers stormed their employer's office to fight for unpaid wages, a rare occurrence in relatively law-abiding Hong Kong.

Cases of domestic violence, suicide and personal bankruptcies have all risen in recent years, trends that social workers blame on the bad economy.

"With no salaries, no leave, no normal working benefits, discontent can only grow," Wong said.