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Following is a question by the Hon Sin Chung-kai and a written reply by the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology, Mr Joseph WP Wong, in the Legislative Council today (January 31):
Question:
According to the results of a survey, the information technology (IT) industry will face a serious shortage of manpower in the coming three years. In addition, people in the industry have told me that many IT students do not join the IT sector after graduation. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of the number of Mainlanders granted approval to engage in IT work in Hong Kong each year since the launch of the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals (the Scheme) in July 2003, together with a breakdown by the types of jobs in which they were mainly engaged when the approval was granted, such as software development, information security, network technologies and scientific researches;
(b) whether it will relax the vetting and approving criteria for the Scheme, including that the job which the Mainlander is employed to take up in Hong Kong cannot be readily taken up by the local work force; if it will, of the details; if not, the reasons for that;
(c) whether it has formulated new measures to relieve the manpower shortage in the local IT industry in the short term and resolve the problem in the long run; if it has, of the details; and
(d) whether it plans to conduct in the near future a survey on the future demand and supply of IT manpower, to enable a more accurate grasp of the situation; if it has, of the details of its plan; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) According to the statistics of the Immigration Department (ImmD) broken down by industry (i.e. employer sector) under the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals (ASMTP), the number of approved cases of Mainlanders admitted into Hong Kong to work for IT companies each year since the launch of the ASMTP in July 2003 is as follows:
2003(July to December) 2004 2005 2006
20 109 104 149
The above statistics includes Mainlanders engaging in IT or other work in Hong Kong IT companies under the ASMTP, but does not include Mainlanders engaging in IT work in other industries (i.e. non-IT companies).
The ImmD does not have detailed statistics on the major types of jobs taken up by these Mainlanders at the time of approval.
(b) The ASMTP was implemented in July 2003 to facilitate the entry of Mainland talents into Hong Kong for employment so as to meet the needs of the economy of Hong Kong and to unify the conditions for Mainland and non-Mainland residents entering Hong Kong for employment. The Scheme imposes neither sectoral restrictions nor any quota. Generally speaking, the vetting and approving criteria of the ASMTP include: (i) the applicant possessing a good education background, but under special circumstances, good technical qualifications, proven professional abilities and/or relevant experience and achievement would also be acceptable; (ii) has been or will be employed in a job relevant to his/her academic qualifications or working experience, and such a job cannot be readily taken up by the local workforce; and (iii) the remuneration (including income, accommodation, medical and other fringe benefits) for the job is broadly commensurate with the prevailing market level for local professionals.
The above criteria are in line with those under the General Employment Policy applicable to non-Mainland residents entering Hong Kong for employment. Therefore, the Government does not have any plan to change the vetting and approving criteria of the ASMTP at present.
(c) The Government is committed to nurturing local talents through local universities and relevant training institutes, and to attracting talents from the Mainland and around the world to come to Hong Kong to sustain its economic development. The IT industry has been changing rapidly, but the local IT manpower market is very open and can moderate supply and demand flexibly. Local IT practitioners in general can also maintain their competitiveness through continuous learning. The Government therefore finds no need for devising short-term relief measures. The Government's long-term strategy is to encourage the local IT workforce to continuously upgrade their professional competency and knowledge so as to maintain their competitiveness. The Government has also actively encouraged the IT sector to establish the Qualification Framework (QF) and strongly supported the industry to implement formal recognition of professional competency.
The QF will help industry identify the training needs and competency standards required for employees, so as to facilitate the promotion of vocational education and training. In this connection, the Government has set up an Industry Training Advisory Committee for the information and communications technology sector in July 2005. The Committee will soon complete the drafting of the Specification of Competency Standards for industry-wide consultation. Training programmes, developed on the basis of the competency standards, will be market-driven and will meet the changing needs of the industry.
(d) The Committee on Information Technology Training and Development of the Vocational Training Council conducts manpower surveys on a regular basis to assess the future manpower supply and demand situation in the IT sector. The Committee has launched a new round of surveys in April 2006 to project the manpower supply and demand situation up to 2010. The manpower projection and related analytical work are underway. It is anticipated that such work will be completed in the first quarter of this year and the projection results will then be released.
Ends/Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Issued at HKT 14:38
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