In the hunt for global talent, don’t forget Hong Kong’s own overseas students, and local workers

Young Hongkongers who study abroad are highly-skilled, bilingual, and possess both local knowledge and international experience, and should not be overlooked
It is also important to nurture and retain local people, who, despite all the upheavals, have chosen to stay in the city

Yvette To

Published: 6:45am, 28 Oct 2022

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In his maiden policy address, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu unveiled ambitious initiatives to “trawl the world for talent”, admitting that Hong Kong’s workforce had contracted by about 140,000 over the past two years.

The proposed initiatives – setting up an Office for Attracting Strategic Enterprises, creating a Talents Service Unit, and launching a Top Talent Pass Scheme, among others – have been welcomed by some, but there are doubts whether measures such as special visas and stamp duty rebates are adequate to lure foreign professionals.

Disappointingly, the government remains reluctant to acknowledge that Hong Kong’s brain drain is, in part, owing to an emigration wave that dates back to 2019, in addition to the Covid-19 pandemic. Good policies require an objective assessment of the actual situation backed by sound data and research.

With no data collected on residents emigrating from the city (the government census records the number of Hong Kong residents staying in the city for less than one month in a 12-month period, regardless of their reasons), the government lacks key information, such as age or occupation, to provide an accurate picture of the outflow of human talent.

What can be observed is that families who have left the city have created vacuums in professions including medicine, education, engineering and banking, mostly at the middle-ranking level, but also at the senior management level.

Given that bilingual (Mandarin/Cantonese and English) language proficiency and specialised local training are required or useful for most of these jobs, the question is: is tapping foreign talent the solution to Hong Kong’s immediate manpower shortage?

People wave goodbye to family and friends leaving Hong Kong on September 2, 2021. Photo: Dickson Lee

No doubt, Hong Kong must equip itself to compete in the global technology race, hence investment in industries of strategic importance is crucial, and incentives to attract highly skilled workers in the innovation and technology sector are needed if such talent is not available at home.

Yet we should not lose sight of the importance of nurturing and retaining local people, who, despite all the upheavals over the past few years, have chosen to stay in the city.

The government should lead the way in this endeavour by facilitating greater upwards social mobility within the civil service, providing necessary training to employees and improving working conditions.

Corporations should also step up investment in existing employees and be more open-minded in promoting capable local employees, while continuing to encourage diversity in background and experience within their businesses.

While Lee stressed in his address a need to entice young mainland graduates and those from Belt and Road countries to replenish Hong Kong’s declining young workforce, his blueprint paid little attention to Hong Kong students who are studying abroad, many of whom still have familial ties with the city.

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It would be unfortunate if Lee were to indiscriminately treat young Hong Kong people studying abroad as those without, as he describes it “an affection for our country and for Hong Kong” and exclude them from his development plan for the city.

Young people choose to study overseas for different reasons. Some are interested in subjects that are less popular or not taught in Hong Kong’s universities; others want to pursue more specialised training and gain international exposure. While some may remain overseas after graduating, others will no doubt be drawn home by the opportunities and salaries offered by the city’s employers.

The United Kingdom, for example, where most of Hong Kong’s overseas students are currently studying, is experiencing 40-year-high inflation, a contracting economy and a cost of living crisis, not to mention political chaos. Whether Hong Kong graduates will be able to secure competitive jobs with bright prospects there remains questionable.

These young graduates, with bilingual language capability, international exposure, and even specialised training in some cases, are a source of human capital that can contribute to Hong Kong’s development. Excluding them would be a big mistake.

To keep talent, Hong Kong must become a truly inclusive, diverse society

Corporations could arrange more internship opportunities for local and overseas Hong Kong students to give them a taste of the industry. Meanwhile, the government’s overseas economic and trade offices can work with private firms to organise recruitment fairs that target Hong Kong graduates. Setting up a one-stop online platform to promote and advertise graduate job opportunities would also be helpful.

For Hong Kong to regain its position as a thriving international city, we need a multidimensional approach to promoting local talent and acquiring foreign professionals, and an open-minded attitude that embraces inclusion and diversity.

Dr Yvette To is a postdoc in the Department of Public and International Affairs at City University of Hong Kong

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