As Hong Kong navigates its postpandemic recovery, a daunting challenge has come into sharp focus — the city’s growing talent shortage. According to the Labour and Welfare Bureau’s latest manpower projection report, Hong Kong’s local labor force is expected to see a modest increase to around 3.56 million by 2028.
Yet this supply will fall short of meeting the rising demand across key industries. The report forecasts a widening talent gap of 180,000 by 2028, a significant leap from the 50,000 shortfall in 2023. This challenge is further exacerbated by the Skytopia mega-project, which aims to transform Hong Kong’s airport into a global aviation and lifestyle hub, poised to increase the demand for skilled labor even further.
The talent shortage is already taking a toll on Hong Kong’s businesses. The latest American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong’s Business Sentiment Survey revealed that 36 percent of respondents said the availability of qualified employees in Hong Kong had decreased in the past year, and that companies continued to face employment challenges such as a decreasing talent pool, rising salary and wage expenses, and difficulty hiring and retaining local talent. With 70 percent of respondents indicating the high cost of doing business as a major challenge, this situation is hindering employers’ ability to fill vacancies, let alone expand operations.
According to the manpower projection report, several industries are predicted to experience the largest manpower shortages, each exceeding 10,000 workers, including construction, city operations, health services, accommodation and food, retail, tourism, as well as the government-promoted innovation and technology industry. Specifically, manpower shortages are forecast to worsen significantly across all occupation groups, with “skilled technical workers” facing the most severe strain, accounting for more than one-third of the overall shortage in 2028. This is primarily because of an aging workforce and a lack of new entrants.
This aligns with the Employees Retraining Board (ERB) Strategic Review Report, which highlights acute shortages in areas like elevator technicians, construction, information technology, and healthcare sectors. These shortages not only drive up costs but also threaten the quality and safety of services. The ERB report also suggests that in some sectors, young people are simply not entering the workforce, with 36 percent of nonworking, nonstudying Hong Kong people expressing no interest in finding jobs. In such cases, bringing in qualified technical talents from the Chinese mainland may be a necessary and practical solution.
To address this multifaceted challenge, a collaborative approach between the government, industry associations, and professional bodies is crucial. One promising avenue is leveraging the existing Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA) framework, which currently allows for the mutual recognition of professional qualifications between Hong Kong and the mainland in fields such as medicine, law, accounting, engineering and construction. However, this arrangement has not been actively extended to technical-level personnel — precisely the areas in which Hong Kong is experiencing the most acute shortages. Expanding the CEPA framework to include the mutual recognition of technical qualifications would be a significant step toward tapping into the talent pool of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Mutual recognition of qualifications is not without its challenges. Concerns about the impact on local workers and quality control are valid and must be addressed. To mitigate these risks, the government and industry stakeholders should establish robust mechanisms for quality assurance and continuous professional development, including mandatory certification programs, on-the-job training, and periodic assessments. Also, a prudent approach is to set certain quota and travel-permit restrictions while making it attractive to Greater Bay Area candidates.
Another bottleneck in tapping into the Greater Bay Area’s talent pool is Hong Kong’s rigid registration requirements. For example, the Lifts and Escalators Ordinance mandates a complex and lengthy registration process with the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department. While this process was designed to safeguard the quality of technicians to ensure safety, it also creates significant hurdles for employers looking to hire mainland technicians, hindering their ability to address the acute labor shortages in this sector.
The government could identify pilot areas in which the talent gap is particularly severe and the potential supply from the mainland is readily available. The shortage of elevator technicians could serve as an ideal starting point. By working with professional bodies and industry associations, Hong Kong could explore a pilot program to facilitate the mutual recognition of these technical qualifications. This model could then be replicated across other industries facing acute talent shortages, such as construction, information technology, and healthcare.
Hong Kong’s talent crunch is a complex challenge, but it is not insurmountable. By expanding mutual recognition of qualifications under the CEPA framework and addressing the bottleneck in the registration process, the city can tap into the vast talent pool of the Greater Bay Area, ensuring its position as a global business hub for decades to come. This effort requires a collaborative, strategic response from the government, businesses, and professional organizations. Industry associations and professional bodies must play a proactive role in offering suggestions and feedback to the government. Together, we can unlock new opportunities for growth and strengthen Hong Kong’s long-term competitiveness.
The author is a senior lecturer, the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong; and co-chair of the Advocacy and Policy Research Committee, the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resources Management.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
