Hong Kong’s IT sector facing shortage of skilled talent as Covid-19 keeps foreigners away and locals mull migration
- Demand for IT specialists picks up, but employers say it’s hard to find suitable applicants
- Engineering graduates from city’s universities lack cutting-edge skills, employers say
Experts are warning of a looming labour shortage in Hong Kong, especially in the information technology sector, as local talent moves away and fewer foreign specialists arrive.
Employers say they are competing for the same small pool, and facing shortages in cutting-edge IT areas of data science, cloud and information security.
Data scientist Wong Ho-wa has been trying to hire data analysts for his luxury retail company but has had trouble finding suitable candidates.
“The number of applications has decreased and among those who do apply, their skill set and experience are not suitable,” he said.
Recruitment consultants say hiring in the IT sector has picked up this year, with big demand among multinationals, insurance firms and tech giants for data scientists, cloud and IT security professionals, who typically come from overseas.
“We have a lot of clients looking for people in these three areas and they are just fighting for the same small pool of talent,” said Albert Lee, co-founder of recruitment firm NLSearch.