My Take | Fighting for a future that’s without a job

Young people in Hong Kong are becoming unemployable, especially in well-paid jobs with good career prospects, according to a Financial Times report. That has to be one of the tragic ironies of the violent anti-government protests of the past six months. Ostensibly, young rebels are fighting for their future. But they are compromising their immediate employability.

Of course, this problem has been there all along, ever since much more competitive and cooperative mainland graduates started flooding the local job market, particularly in the financial sector.

But the violent protests have only made the already bad reputation of young locals as self-centred snowflakes who require extensive supervision and training even more alarming to bosses. Sadly, this open secret has been kept from young protesters who innocently drink the Kool-Aid served up by their glorifiers, do-gooders and manipulators.

According to the Times, “interviews with senior executives at several financial services companies – including banks, asset managers, accountancies and law firms – suggest the reluctance to hire Hongkongers extends far wider than mainland Chinese banks.

“The executives said they fear recruiting anyone who has participated in activities deemed illegal by local authorities during the protests ... Managers at three Hong Kong-based global hedge funds said they would implement an unofficial hiring freeze on locals.