A study will be launched to see why the labour force is growing so rapidly and contributing to high unemployment, the Government said yesterday. Secretary for Education and Manpower Joseph Wong Wing-ping said the rapid growth in labour supply is a major reason for the jobless rate reaching a 23-year high of 5.8 per cent. He said the number of jobs have remained relatively stable despite the economic downturn, but the number of people able to work has ballooned. 'We'd like the Government to do a detailed analysis of the profile of the increase in the labour force, including where they're from and what their skills are so we can see in what way they're impacting our economic problem,' Mr Wong said. He stopped short of saying how the information would be used, but it is believed findings from the study could be used to formulate policy to restrict immigration or screen people to select those with skills considered useful for Hong Kong. Wong Siu-lun, a Hong Kong University academic who studies immigrants and sits on the Government's Task Force on Employment, said he believed the Government should consider developing a policy that in the short term would screen immigrants and attract people with talent and contributions to make to Hong Kong. 'We want to know more about the mainland immigrants coming to Hong Kong, the returnee numbers, the foreign domestic helpers and others so that in the future when we create policy, we'll have more information,' Mr Wong Siu-lun said. From November 1997 to the same month last year, the labour force grew by three per cent, or 100,400 people, to 3,391,000.
