Jake's View | Greed, not need, drives call for more foreign workers

One of Hong Kong's most influential business groups is working on a proposal calling on the government to allow an influx of foreign workers - warning that it is the only way to solve the city's labour shortage.

For starters, I have a slight quibble with the General Chamber of Commerce's numbers on unfilled job vacancies, the reason it is now calling for the doors to be opened to labour migrants.

According to chief executive Shirley Yuen, there were up to 110,000 vacancies last month. The government, however, has only published vacancy figures up to March and the figure then was 76,000.

The red upwards spike on the right of the chart shows what would have had to happen to make both numbers correct. It seems unlikely to me.

It seems all the more unlikely given that the labour force rose by 30,000 people over these four months. The participation rate has surged recently.