The Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce (HKGCC) strongly supports the Government's plans to increase the opportunities for the employment of Mainland professionals in the SAR, but would like to see consideration of expanding the scheme beyond the information technology (IT) and financial services sectors, so far designated by the Government.

HKGCC agrees with the Government that the first priority of any such scheme must be to maintain the employment opportunities and wage levels of Hong Kong SAR citizens, but where there are vacancies that cannot be filled locally, they certainly should be open to appropriately qualified Mainland professionals.

The demand for highly qualified people in fact extends across all sectors of the market. With regional and global demand for these types of people being highly competitive, there is a need for the SAR—which aspires to be a world class city—to move quickly to secure the types of people it needs for its future development. HKGCC believes that this is no time to embrace protectionist sentiments.

The Government's plan to implement the Admission of Mainland Professionals Scheme first in IT and financial sectors is therefore a positive start and will add greater flexibility to employment practices in local labour market. But consideration of the same scheme in any sector which is lacking in qualified personnel must be made to enable Hong Kong to compete in the global economy.

Latest Hong Kong SAR manpower projections for the five years through to 2005, published late last year, indicated that total manpower requirements will grow by an average of 2.4 per cent a year from 2.9 million people in 1999 to 3.33 million in 2005.

Fastest growth in demand is predicted to come from the tertiary or services sector, especially the important "financing, insurance, real estate and business services" sector, which is predicted to grow by some 5.6 per cent a year, or more than double the average overall growth rate.

The Chairman of HKGCC, Mr C C Tung, said: "The growth in this sector is expected to be driven by the Mainland's entry to the WTO - mainly in finance and business services - and the IT and e-commerce sector, with more and more traditional companies developing IT and related business activities using in-house IT personnel. In addition, more IT companies will be needed in Hong Kong to provide these activities."

He added: "Across the board, the shortage of professionals with high academic qualifications in Hong Kong could grow to be as high as 125,000 over the next five years if nothing is done to address the problem."

HKGCC acknowledges that safeguarding the job opportunities and wages of local employees must be the first priority, but providing more flexibility to employers to acquire Mainland talent in a wider range of economic sectors which are experiencing shortage will help overcome employment shortages in key areas and is critical to Hong Kong's future economic development.

Finally, HKGCC believes that quotas should not be imposed under the proposed new scheme as long as applicants possess professional skills not readily available in Hong Kong, have a good education background and have employment with a local company. Applications under the new scheme must also be "user friendly" for potential employers, involve only a limited number of restrictions and have simplified application procedures.

For further information, contact Dr Eden Woon on 2823-1211.