But survey finds 'some improvement in the availability of skilled workers'
Three out of four companies in Hong Kong struggled to find new employees for the first quarter of 2024, according to a survey reported in the South China Morning Post.
ManpowerGroup Greater China released its quarterly employment outlook survey which showed that 39% of respondents in Hong Kong had resorted to giving higher wages in order to address their firm’s employee shortages. Workers expected to have an average salary increase of 3.3% in 2024.
The article further reported that 78% of companies based in Hong Kong struggled to locate new employees as 2024 approached which was down from the 85% seen earlier this year. Information technology and data as well as sustainability and engineering were among the top skills that they had a hard time finding ahead of Q1 2024.
“The slight decrease in the talent shortage … suggests some improvement in the availability of skilled workers or the effectiveness of strategies deployed by companies to attract the necessary talent,” said Lancy Chui Yuk-shan, senior vice president of ManpowerGroup.
“However, since the talent shortage in Hong Kong still exceeds the global average of 75%, it indicates that the region continues to face significant challenges in this area,” she said further.
Stable hiring outlook
The article also found that the report considered Hong Kong’s hiring outlook as stable since the 44% of employers that were looking to hire for Q1 2021 was only 3 percentage point lower than the previous quarter but still matched the levels seen at the same time last year.
Hong Kong’s net employment outlook was at 29% which was the same as Singapore, 2 points above the UK, and 6 points below the US.
“It signifies confidence in the resilience of the Hong Kong economy and its potential for further expansion,” said Chui in the South China Morning Post.
John Lee Ka-chiu, Hong Kong’s leader, had previously rolled out a drive to gather more skilled workers as the city lost 210,000 workers between early 2019 and the end of 2022. The article further explained that Chris Sun Yuk-han, the labour and welfare secretary, has stated that 70,000 people came to the city under talent schemes in November, which was twice the government’s original target.
The ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey measures the intentions of employers to increase of decrease the number of their employees during the upcoming quarter. It covered more than 40,000 employers based in 41 countries.
