Letters | How corporate Hong Kong can help city’s youth and the economy

These are industries in the Greater Bay Area which will benefit from an inflow of Hong Kong graduates who are bilingual
Hong Kong companies with business in the Greater Bay Area should embrace youth employment initiatives

Hong Kong economy

Letters

Published: 6:45am, 7 Apr 2021

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Jobs are scarce everywhere because of the sluggish global economy in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. In Hong Kong where tourism, entertainment, dining, hospitality and aviation are the hardest hit, we recently recorded a 7.2 per cent unemployment rate, the highest in 17 years.

In such an environment, young first-time jobseekers, especially those without work experience, will face tremendous difficulties. The social unrest and the pandemic have made it challenging for our university graduates to find jobs in the past two years. Currently, the jobless rate of those aged 15-25 is 15.6 per cent, more than double the overall rate.

This year, our university graduates are likely to again face challenges and will need help. Governments play a crucial role in the career development of the youth. Our government has initiated the Youth Development Fund and Space Sharing Scheme to nurture young start-up entrepreneurs.

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Certainly, not all youngsters will be interested in pursuing a career in the creative or innovative industries. Therefore, the government has also worked with enterprises to roll out summer internship programmes in the mainland and overseas, so young people may accumulate work experience and gain a solid understanding of China, the world’s second largest economy that could soon overtake the United States.

It makes perfect sense for our youth to seize every opportunity to gain exposure to the Chinese economy, in particular the Greater Bay Area, of which Hong Kong is a key city. The Greater Bay Area, with a population of 72 million, has gross domestic product of US$1.68 trillion, close to that of Canada.

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The Greater Bay Area is a key part of the nation’s developmental blueprint, and represents China’s commitment to open up further, driven by innovation.

Also, there exists great potential in sectors in the development zone, including trade and logistics, innovation and technology. These are industries which will benefit from an inflow of Hong Kong graduates who possess skills including bilingualism as well as a deep understanding of both Chinese culture and an international perspective.

In this regard, the Greater Bay Area Youth Employment Scheme, announced by our Chief Executive Carrie Lam in her policy address last year, is a step in the right direction. It encourages and supports our young people to gain experience in the thriving Greater Bay Area as a way of laying solid foundations for their careers.

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Under this scheme, the government will subsidise HK$10,000 of the average monthly salary of HK$18,000 for each university graduate who successfully obtains a job for a maximum contract period of 18 months with a qualified, locally based or headquartered company with business in the Greater Bay Area.

Mission Hills Group is one of these companies lending our university graduates a hand. I therefore encourage other Hong Kong companies to take part in initiatives like the Youth Employment Scheme to enable our young graduates to gain a solid footing in the Greater Bay Area. When our youth succeed, Hong Kong will in turn benefit.

Ken Chu, chairman, Mission Hills Group, Shenzhen, PRC

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