Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun on Tuesday said the government expected to receive applications from the construction and transport sectors in July and process applications for about two months.

“Due to the proximity of the mainland to Hong Kong, we expect most of the imported labour will come from across the border,” he said.

For every two full-time Hong Kong workers, employers can hire one non-local, and pay a HK$400 “employee retraining” levy. Non-local workers’ pay must not be lower than the median wage levels of their local counterparts in comparable roles.

Wong said he expected the quota to be fully used “some time next year”, but authorities did not have a timeline on when to modify the number as it would depend on market conditions.

He said that because the imported workers would remain non-permanent residents, they would not be entitled to stay in the city and gain permanent residency status after the end of their employment contracts.

Referring to the rule of pay levels, Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han said: “This is a key way to protect local workers.”

Companies will be allowed to provide accommodation for imported labour locally or across the border, and workers can opt to live at home on the mainland, except for construction workers who will be allocated designated dormitories provided by employers in Hong Kong.

Sun said the working population shrank 6 per cent to 3.46 million in 2022 from 3.68 million in 2018, with the number of local low-skilled workers falling by 160,000 during the period. The figures exclude foreign domestic helpers.

Secretary for Development Bernadette Linn Hon-ho said the construction sector, for example, lacked 14,000 people this year, a shortfall which would widen to 40,000, largely for skilled and semi-skilled workers, in 2027.

She said construction companies would have to provide accommodation at designated locations, with the government earmarking a former Covid-19 quarantine facility in Tam Mei in Yuen Long as an option. The Construction Industry Council will manage the facility, which can house up to 8,000 people and become operational in October.

The airport would also be allowed to bring in up to 6,300 workers, or nearly half of the anticipated shortage of 16,000 vacancies, for 10 specific frontline job types, Secretary for Transport and Logistics Lam Sai-hung said.

The 10 roles covered are: cabin workers; aircraft maintenance mechanics; technicians; warehouse operators; cargo handlers; aircraft tug drivers; tractor drivers; customer service agents; equipment operators; and loader operators.

Public minibus operators can bring in a maximum of 900 drivers, while local and cross-border coach firms can hire up to 800, under the transport sector scheme.

The drivers must have held a “recognised” private car licence for at least a year and will be “directly issued” the full Hong Kong version by the Transport Department. They will also be required to pass the local driving test for a minibus or coach licence, and receive “practical training”.

Lam said the exam would involve 10 to 12 hours of road tests, in addition to route familiarisation exercises to be arranged by employers.

Aside from the new sector-specific programmes, the government will lift an import ban on 26 low-skilled job types for two years under the existing Supplementary Labour Scheme, including for shop sales staff, waiters, receptionists, hair stylists, junior cooks and delivery workers.

Applications to hire workers for these 26 roles will still go through established procedures, which involves consultations with the Labour Advisory Board.

“With a severe labour shortage, if we don’t do anything, the whole of society will be affected,” he said before the weekly meeting of the government’s key decision-making Executive Council.

“Our services will be worse and not meet our requirements. Our economic development will be seriously affected. Our competitiveness will be seriously curtailed.”

Unions have resisted the special scheme as they fear the availability of non-local workers will suppress potential wage increases for the local workforce.

They also slammed authorities for bypassing regular labour import channels that would involve vetting by the advisory board.

Irons Sze Wing-wai, who represents the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association on the advisory board, welcomed the government’s proposal, saying it would bring much needed workers.

“As long as the problem of labour shortage in Hong Kong can be resolved, we don’t need to fixate on whether it goes through the board or other steps,” he said.

In response to the planned import of workers, the Construction Industry Council said it had budgeted HK$1 billion to subsidise 4,000 extra training places for new skilled workers annually from 2022-23.

The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce also hailed the plan.

“The move to import labour will go a long way to restore Hong Kong’s prosperity in post-pandemic times, and it is hoped that the announced measures will eventually be further relaxed and extended to other sectors facing manpower shortages,” it said.