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But secondly, and especially, Hong Kong is not an "undeveloped
or "developing" economy in the normal sense (where one is confronted
with a situation which is, at least in an economic sense, comparatively
a
simple) but relatively rich industrial and commercial city-state.
It is
indications of this, for instance, are the high "labour force
participation rate" (54% of the population of working age at the last
Census in 1971 - when the total population was about 4 million) and an
employee labour force which is currently probably about 1,500,000, of
which over 600,000 are in registered industrial establishments.
also significant that the preliminary results of our own survey suggest
the proportion of white-collar workers in the employee labour force to b
about 35%, which is comparable with that in the highly industrialised
economies of the West."
5.
At the same time, it is an economic society with very special
characteristics, which add to the complexity normal to industrial
cultures. It has, if not an absolutely limited, at least very rigidly
limited and confined supply of land, and virtually no raw materials
of its own. It is almost totally dependent on exports and imports,
Its industrial composition is unbalanced, being still heavily concen-
trated on the textile and garment industries which have historically
formed the initial base of industrial development in many now-advanced
and economies, though newer industries such as plastics, chemicals,
electronics are expanding. Moreover, the pace of development and
growth in Hong Kong from an initially primitive base has been such that
one finds, exemplified in its economy, systems of employment and
manufacture which cover virtually every stage in the history of an
industrial evolution which in other countries has extended over a
century or more from the most modern and highly-automated factories to the primitive workshop and the "domestic" (or "putting-out") system.
....!