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Manpower for hotel industry
Following is a question by Dr the Hon David Li Kwok-po and a written reply by the Secretary for Education and Manpower, Mr Michael Leung, in the Legislative Council today (Wednesday):
Question:
The Federation of Hong Kong Hotel Owners has indicated that the hotel industry is suffering from a significant labour shortage and that the root of the problem is that the industry is being allowed quotas of imported workers well below stated requirements. In view of this, will the Government inform this Council:
(a)
(b)
whether a review on the importation of labour scheme has been conducted to determine its effectiveness in easing the labour shortage in the territory; if so, what the findings are; and
what remedies the Government will make to relieve the labour shortage in the hotel industry in view of its contribution to foreign exchange earnings?
Reply:
Mr President,
Under the General Labour Importation Scheme, the importation of workers at the technician, supervisor, craftsman and experienced operative levels is allowed up to a quota of 25,000 at any one time. This quota is allocated amongst various industry groups on the basis of four criteria, namely, number of vacancies, wage rate, labour utilisation and contribution to the economy. Allocation is made in accordance with an open formula which is applied consistently across all industry groups. In 1994, out of 11,000 quotas that have been reallocated, 152 places have been allocated to the hotel industry, which is equivalent to 1.4 per cent of the total quota allocated. A further allocation of 115 places has recently been approved, in response to requests from certain applicants for a reconsideration of their cases. The hotel industry has therefore been allocated a fair share of the available quotas.