TNAG-2004-FCO40-2852-Hong-Kong-political-parties-1990 — Page 171

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the re-birth of the entrepot trade has created other

opportunities. Hence the remarkable expansion of our service sector over the same period. More and more of

our young high school and university graduates have gone

into jobs in financial services, insurance, freight

forwarding, packaging and so on. Hence also the need for us to develop our port and airport facilities to meet

this explosion of demand. We must make sure that we

remain the hub of economic development in the Pearl River

delta and beyond. We must make sure that as the economy of South China grows as grow it most certainly will we in Hong Kong can provide the services and

communications it will need. The Pearl River delta is

going to be one of the key areas of growth in the Pacific

Rim in the next 20 to 30 years. We are going to be a key part of it.

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14. Growth has not been painless. It never will be. Competition among employers, particularly between the manufacturing and the services sectors, has been fierce not just for white collar workers with executive skills,

but throughout the workforce. Inflation has been one result, and we must tackle it, particularly by reining in the growth of the civil service.

15. But, before anybody complains too loudly, we should remind ourselves that wages have consistently risen

faster than inflation. As a result, the real increase

in the wealth of the community is visible all around us. Our per capita GDP is now greater than that of several Western European countries. Nearly 40% of families now own their own homes. Each year an additional 1% of the

population joins this group. Our young people are