The SUN HK : HK to import 3k more care workers next year

14 December 2022

A resident in a care home gets vaccinated as government officials look on

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive in Council has approved a special scheme to import 3,000 additional care workers for residential care homes starting in the second half of next year.

According to a statement issued on behalf of the Labour and Welfare Bureau, the care workers to be hired from overseas next year will supplement the 4,000 imported workers already here, all from the Mainland. That will mean filling up the entire 7,000 quota that has been set for imported care workers.

As the sector will need at least 4,500 more care workers in the next three years, there will still be a lot of opportunities for local workers to fill the gap, said the Bureau.

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The scheme is not limited to hiring workers from the Mainland, but the ease of communicating with the residents in care homes could be a factor in getting someone hired from overseas.

The plan to import more care workers was brought up by Chief Executive John Lee in his maiden policy address earlier this year, as a means to address acute manpower shortage in residential care homes.

Currently, only private homes are allowed to import care workers, but only if they hire two locals for every worker that is brought in from overseas.

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Under the scheme, even subvented or subsidized care homes can hire imported workers on a 1:2 ratio. For private homes, the ratio has been changed to 1:1, meaning there could be one imported worker for every one local worker.

A Bureau spokesman said that in addition, homes must prove that they tried and failed to hire local workers before applying to import them.

Homes are also required to pay local recruits more than the imported workers, and the non-locals’ salary must be higher than the median monthly wage for a care worker.

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Once the scheme is implemented by the second quarter of next year, the vetting of applications could be cut short from five to two months, according to the Bureau.

The plan has been met with criticism from local unions, whose leaders said they were upset because the government did not consult them beforehand.

They also warned of abuse in the process because applications by care homes to import labour will not pass through the Labour Advisory Board of which they are a part.

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They also called for an increase in pay for the care workers so more local people could be enticed to apply.

Previously, the government said that only 20% of locals who took part in trainings last year ended up working in care homes. Many were apparently unhappy with the salary offer of between $12,000 to $20,000, and the long working hours.