Pedestrians use a crossing in Hong Kong's Central district on Jan 29, 2024. (SHAMIM ASHRAF / CHINA DAILY)

HONG KONG – The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government launched the 2024 Greater Bay Area Youth Employment Scheme on Thursday. 

From Thursday through Dec 31, enterprises can submit job vacancies to employ young  Hong Kong young people to work in the nine Chinese mainland cities of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, the government said in a statement.

The program encourages enterprises to offer jobs and hire young people to work in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Zhaoqing, Foshan, Huizhou, Jiangmen, and Zhongshan — to foster their career development and the exchange of talent in the 11-city cluster. 

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Enterprises with businesses in both Hong Kong and GBA mainland cities are eligible to join the program. They can submit job vacancies through its website. Once they have been vetted by the Labour Department, job vacancies will be uploaded to the website from March 1. 

The SAR government will grant a monthly allowance of HK$10,000 to enterprises for each employed young person for a period up to 18 months

“Participating enterprises shall employ eligible young people in accordance with Hong Kong laws, offer them a monthly salary of not less than HK$18,000 ($2,300) and station them in GBA mainland cities to work and receive on-the-job training,” the government said in a statement. 

The government will provide a monthly allowance of HK$10,000 to enterprises for each young person employed for up to 18 months. 

Young people participating in the program should be Hong Kong residents who are entitled to work in Hong Kong and have earned a minimum of a bachelor’s degree from 2022 to 2024. 

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The program offers flexibility this year by allowing enterprises to apply for an extension to deploy young people to work in Hong Kong or mainland cities outside the GBA, and hire qualified young people previously employed for student intern positions. 

After launching the pilot scheme in 2021, the government received favorable feedback from both participating enterprises and young employees.

Contact the writer at shamim@chinadailyhk.com