Secretary for Economy and Finance Anton Tai Kin Ip said yesterday that requiring large enterprises to employ a minimum percentage of local residents in relation to the total number of staff for certain occupations, as proposed by some lawmakers and community leaders, would not be an effective solution to helping more local residents obtain and secure a job, apart from the possibility that setting such a compulsory percentage for certain companies to comply with would undermine the labour market flexibility needed to adjust and adapt to changes.
Tai made the remarks when replying to oral interpellations by lawmakers during yesterday’s plenary session in the legislature’s hemicycle.
During yesterday’s plenary session, several legislators raised the matter, where, for instance, lawmaker-cum-unionist Leong Sun Iok asked the government whether it would study the possibility of requiring large enterprises to employ a minimum percentage of local residents for certain positions or occupations that local residents are willing to assume or engage in, or those with good career development prospects.
Tai replied that the government has been aware of the views raised in civil society calling for the government to set a percentage of local workers in relation to non-local workers hired for certain positions that enterprises should comply with.
Tai said that the possible implementation of such a measure must be carefully studied and assessed, adding that setting such a compulsory percentage would lower the labour market flexibility needed to allocate labour resources among employers and employees.
Tai also noted that setting such a ratio would not be an effective measure to match all local jobseekers with the positions and jobs offered by employers that they want.
Instead, Tai said, the government will strengthen its measures to identify existing local jobseekers looking for certain positions and then recommend them to the respective employers offering such or similar positions.
Moreover, Tai said that the government’s newly established working group aiming to promote local residents’ employment, which was set up over a month ago, has been identifying job vacancies available in the local job market for various sectors and positions such as construction sector, retail sector and administrative positions
Tai said that the working group has now identified about 1,000 job vacancies, covering about 300 different types of positions, which are being offered by companies in various sectors such as tourism, hotel, information technology, banking, social services, and civil aviation.
Tai also said that about 60 percent of unemployed local residents are those who has been jobless for a short time before securing a new job, normally ranging between one and three months.
Tai also underlined the government’s commitment to strengthening its measures to enable more local residents to assume middle-ranked or top management positions in the city’s six gaming operators.
Secretary for Economy and Finance Anton Tai Kin Ip addresses yesterday’s plenary session in the Legislative Assembly’s (AL) hemicycle. – Photo: GCS
