Despite the controversy of importing foreign labour, Lau Ming-wai, vice chairman of Bauhinia Foundation Research Center, said importation of foreign labour is conducive in the long run.
Lau said Hong Kong’s labour force is shrinking while the fertility rate remains low. According to study on population policy, labour population will decline from the peak of 3.7 million at 2018 to 3.5 million at 2031, while the present number is 3.6 million.
He said it is the right time to attract the 800,000 Hong Kong-born people who are currently living outside Hong Kong to come back their birth place as those developed countries are facing economic depression and low employment rate. He believed that Hong Kong should seize the chance to encourage those highly educated people returning to Hong Kong.
Viewing Southeast Asia as the back garden of resource, Lau also suggested recruiting people from these countries in order to increase the labour force. He said importing foreign labour may solve the long-term constructional problem of the Hong Kong’s labour force, but it should not be used as remedy for shortage of labour.
“(Methods to) increase fertility rate and importation of foreign labour should be carried on at the same time,” said Lau as there is not much time for Hong Kong try one method then the other.
