Hong Kong’s relaxed labour import scheme covering waiters, junior chefs and more may only benefit mid-to-large businesses, industry representative warns
- Starting next Monday, employers can apply to bring in unskilled or low-skilled workers in 26 job categories
- ‘Small companies will not be able to bear the cost of housing and free medical care for the imported workers,’ industry representative Leung Chun-wah says
Hong Kong’s recently expanded labour import scheme, now encompassing waiters and junior chefs, might only benefit medium- and large-sized businesses, a leading catering industry representative warned on Tuesday.
Employers can apply to bring in unskilled or low-skilled workers from next Monday in 26 job categories covering industries such as travel, hospitality and wholesale trade under the eased measures endorsed by the city’s top decision-making body in June to address a manpower shortage.
The Labour Department on Monday said employers hoping to hire imported workers were required to carry out a four-week city recruitment drive before the authority and the Labour Advisory Board would review their application, which could take up to three months to process.
A department spokesman said there was no industry-specific or overall quota limit under the scheme and that it would monitor its implementation.
Imported workers must be paid a salary that is no less than the median monthly wage for the relevant job in the city under the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme.
Employers are also required to provide workers with accommodation and medical insurance.
Leung Chun-wah, chairman of the Association for Hong Kong Catering Services Management, said medium- and large-sized businesses would definitely apply for the scheme as they were in need of more workers.
“But small companies will not be able to bear the cost of housing and free medical care for the imported workers, so they will be inclined to recruit locally,” he said.
Leung warned the catering industry needed an extra 30,000 to 60,000 workers to address a severe labour shortage, adding he expected the scheme to bring in 10,000 employees for positions such as cashiers, waiters and junior cooks.
“It’s exciting news for the waiters,” he said. “We expect to first alleviate the shortage of frontline workers at restaurants and plan to hire more for the back office.”
But he admitted there was uncertainty over whether the changes to the scheme would fully address the labour crunch and said the department had not released details of the quota system yet.
He added that the application procedure was “complicated” and employers had to be mindful of extra costs.
The scheme requires employers to pay a HK$400 (US$50) levy for each recruit every month during the employment period.
The workers are signed up under a maximum two-year contract, which is non-renewable, the department said.
It said in-person inspections of employers’ premises would be replaced with document checks and other verification methods, such as phone calls and letters, when applications were vetted.
Jenny Tam Kam-lin, an employee representative on the advisory board, said she expected to process a significant increase of applications, but she believed the time would be shortened as her fellow members would start reviewing the applications soon after the recruitment begins.
Ricky Chan Wai Chung of the Federation of Hong Kong Industries, also on the advisory board, promised members would “safeguard” the application screening procedure to make the decision of giving the priority to job categories which are most understaffed.
He highlighted the scheme would be reviewed after two years.
Chan added that “importing labour is a temporary but definitely not a long-term solution to ease the pressing manpower problem.”
The city’s working population declined by 6 per cent to 3.46 million in 2022 from 3.68 million in 2018. The number of low-skilled workers also fell by 160,000 over the same period.
Authorities earlier this month completed the first round of applications for separate schemes to import 20,000 workers to tackle labour shortages in the construction, aviation and transport sectors.
