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| Nearly 29,000 imported workers were allowed to enter HK in the past year |
Nearly 29,000 imported workers in the unskilled or low-skilled categories were allowed to enter Hong Kong by the government in the past year since the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) was launched on Sept. 4 last year.
This was according to Labour Secretary Chris Sun, in
his written reply submitted to the Legislative Council today, Oct. 23, to
questions raised by legislator Chau Siu-chung.
Sun said that from Sept 4, 2023 to Sept 30, 2024, a total of 7,448 applications seeking to import 66,230 workers were received by the government under the ESLS. Of these, 3,886 applications were approved, involving 28,818 quotas for imported workers.
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| Basahin ang detalye! |
The ESLS was introduced by the government to enhance
or expand the coverage and operation of the previous Supplementary Labour
Scheme (SLS), including the general exclusion of 26 job category as well as
unskilled or low-skilled posts from labour importation for two years
This was apart from previous efforts to address the severe
manpower shortage in Hong Kong, including the launch of sector-specified labour
importation schemes for such sectors as construction, transport, and residential
care homes.
Under the ESLS, The biggest number of imported
workers to have received the nod of Labour
in terms of categories were waiters or waitresses, who numbered 5,231, according
to figures supplied by Sun.
Next were cooks, who numbered 3,174; followed by junior
cooks, with 2,867; sales assistants with 2,294; and warehouse keepers, with
1,084.
But the list was surprisingly wide-ranging, and
included jobs previously reserved only for locals, such as receptionists,
clerical workers, telephone operators, hairstylists and washers.
There were also thousands of recruits for
low-skilled jobs such as security guards, who numbered 1,057; cleaners, 1,239;
dish washers, 1,259; and room attendants, 509.
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| Secretary Sun says assures local workers will never be displaced by foreigners |
Sun said the Labour Department has no figures for
the number of imported workers who have arrived under the ESLS as their successful
deployment would depend on the employers’ handling of relevant procedures, such
as submitting visa/entry permit applications to the Immigration Department within
six months of approval of the imported work application.
He assured legislators that there are enough
safeguards to ensure that no foreign worker is hired when a local counterpart
is available, such as requiring applicant employers of the ESLS to undertake a
four-week local recruitment exercise initially.
After completing such recruitment, the employers
shall report the results to Labour, which will then contact each of the local
jobseekers whose applications were not approved, and assess whether the employers
were sincere in hiring locally first.
If an employer is found to have violated the terms
for local recruitment such as offering local workers a salary lower than that approved
by Labour, or refused to hire qualified local jobseeker without reasonable
grounds, the employer will be disqualified from hiring import labour.
Any application submitted by the errant employer in
the following year will also not be processed.
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