【明報專訊】The government

Chief Secretary for Administration Carrie Lam (政務司長林鄭月娥) maintains that it is possible for Hong Kong to import more labour. She says that, by the end of 2012, foreign labour taken in under two government programmes accounted respectively for just 2.1 percent and 0.4 percent of Hong Kong's working population. However, in 2012, Macau and Singapore respectively imported 87,300 and 884,000 foreign low-skilled workers, which respectively made up 26 and 28 percent of the two cities' total people at work.

Carrie Lam also says that it would be unwise to limit Hong Kong's population, which currently stands at over 7 million.

Trade unions

General secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions Lee Cheuk-yan (職工盟秘書長李卓人, right) lambastes the government's proposal as "lazy". He says that the importation of labour will harm local workers as it will make them more vulnerable to exploitation (剝削) and deter local women and young people from entering the labour market.

In response to the government's argument that it is necessary to import labour because some trades and businesses are too offensive (厭惡性的) to appeal to local people, Lee says the right thing to do is to enhance the working conditions in those workplaces (like homes for the elderly) and, if this is done, many local women will find those jobs more attractive.

The business sector

The business sector welcomes the idea of labour importation. Shirley Yuen, chief executive of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (香港總商會行政總裁袁莎妮, left), says that while Hong Kong's business sector is willing to give priority to local workers, Hong Kong's labour shortage problem needs attention. For example, in 2012, there were as many as 65,100 job vacancies, while the unemployment rate was at an all-time low.

Yuen suggests that labour should be imported to ease labour shortages in the most shorthanded industries, such as care for the elderly, the catering industry and the hotel and restaurant business.

Scholars

Scholars differ with one another on labour importation. Andy Kwan, an economist (經濟學家關焯照), thinks that bringing new labour to specific sectors can help relieve labour shortages, but in the long term the government should consider other means (such as developing high-skilled industries like creative industries) to help maintain Hong Kong's economic growth.

However Nelson Chow, honorary professor of the Department of Social Work and Social Administration of HKU (香港大學社工及社會行政學系榮譽教授周永新, left), is strongly against labour importation, arguing that it will only lead to more social problems and further fragment (分裂) our society. He says greater emphasis should be put on enhancing local residents' skills and employability (就業能力).