Almost half of Hong Kong’s BN(O) migrants are still unemployed, struggle with language and workplace culture differences
- New study finds only 18.5 per cent who moved to Britain under visa scheme had found full-time work for an employer as at end of August
- But vast majority of survey participants aware that leaving Hong Kong behind would mean accepting a lower-paid job and changing industries
Fearful of the loss of personal freedoms and losing trust in the local government, Jane Leung* left a well-paid job in human resources when she swapped Hong Kong for the British city of Nottingham in June.
The 40-year-old, who worked in HR for the past decade, has been looking for part-time admin and customer service work that would facilitate her picking up and dropping off her two children at school.
Her husband, formerly an airline engineer in Hong Kong, now works on a warehouse production line, earning much less. A typical day sees him start work at 4.55am and finish at 1.45pm. A silver lining is that he can spend time with his two young children after school.
Their situation is not unusual: a new study of the employment situation for Hongkongers emigrating to Britain under the BN(O) scheme found that nearly half remained unemployed at the end of August and only 18.5 per cent had found full-time work for an employer.