Hong Kong employers need to change their view of older workers if the city is to weather the impact of a rapidly ageing population and shrinking workforce, human resources experts warn.
The findings were announced yesterday at a forum hosted by the Hong Kong China division of accounting firm CPA Australia, which found that age discrimination was prevalent in the city's workplace.
Sebastian Bombaci, the division's business management committee chairman, said employers tended to associate older workers with extra costs and a lack of skills.
'It's about changing people's behaviour as a result of economic demand,' Dr Bombaci said.
He stressed that Hong Kong's fertility rate of less than one child per couple was likely to persist over the next few decades, with no short-term solution in sight.
According to government data, Hong Kong's fertility rate fell to 0.93 children per couple in 2004, handing the city the world's second-lowest fertility rate behind Macau. This rate is expected to improve marginally to 0.95 by 2008, and stay around 0.99 from 2018 onwards.