Signs were emerging of a 'mismatch' between workers' skills and those needed by bosses, Executive Councillor Leung Chun-ying said yesterday.
He said the SAR's major asset was its people, but the population had shown 'some very unusual features' in recent years, including a 'surprising' number of foreigners taking up residency.
'There are signs of a mismatch between the skills that the local population offers and the requirements of the changing and growing economy,' Mr Leung told the 17th Annual Conference of the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management.
He said last year 61,000 mainland residents had settled here with 'very different age and skill distributions'.
Manufacturing employees had fallen two-thirds in the past 10 years, he said, adding that training would become increasingly important in the global marketplace.