By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-23 14:26:14 | Updated at 2025-03-25 13:20:21
1 day ago
Hong Kong’s largest workers’ union has called on the government to establish a mechanism to suspend a staff import scheme in industries experiencing rising unemployment rates, citing the impact of the arrival of 75,000 labourers in the past two years.
The Federation of Trade Unions made the plea on Sunday, saying unemployment rates had increased in some low-skill industries after the government started bringing in tens of thousands of labourers from outside the city in September 2023 to address a manpower shortage.
“Underprivileged workers are taking the hardest hit under the labour import schemes, many of whom are older folks doing temporary or part-time jobs, and they can barely compete with the younger imported workers,” said Kingsley Wong Kwok, the federation’s chairman.
“The government should review the labour import schemes based on the unique circumstances of each industry, for example, it should impose a quota on the number of workers to be imported for the construction industry, and freeze the quota when the jobless rate is increasing.”
The 75,000 imported workers included at least 20,000 in the catering sector and 9,000 in construction.
They must be paid at least the median monthly wage level of a comparable position on the market to help ensure sufficient jobs for local workers.
But the federation said the data suggested otherwise.
