LCQ20: Safeguarding employment opportunities for local workers
**************************************************************
Question:
The 2025 Policy Address has proposed measures to ensure employment priority of local workers. On the other hand, the Government has, since June 30 this year, introduced a new channel under the General Employment Policy and the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals, allowing individuals meeting the qualifications under the Technical Professional List to come to Hong Kong to engage in eight skilled trades facing manpower shortage. However, there are views pointing out that the relevant arrangements may create negative impacts on the employment opportunities for local workers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) given that the 2025 Policy Address has proposed to tighten the manning ratio requirement for waiters/waitresses and junior cooks under the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) (i.e. a manning ratio of 2:1 for full-time local employees to imported workers), and change the current calculation method based on all posts being applied for by employers to the one based on individual posts being applied for, whether the Government has compiled statistics on the proportion of local workers in individual trades under the existing manning ratio requirement of ESLS; whether it has identified employers hiring local workers in different trades or on a part-time basis to meet the manning ratio requirement of ESLS; if such cases have been identified, of the Government's existing monitoring mechanisms and improvement measures;
(2) whether it will consider extending the arrangement for tightening the manning ratio requirement mentioned in (1) to more post categories, and study prohibiting employers from hiring local workers on a part-time basis to meet the manning ratio requirement;
(3) given that the 2025 Policy Address has proposed to step up efforts to combat illegal workers, including establishing a dedicated reporting hotline and promoting more inter-departmental joint operations, of the Government's specific plans and expected effectiveness in respect of the aforesaid measures;
(4) as it is learnt that in recent years, some lawbreakers have arranged for illegal workers to come to Hong Kong to provide services after soliciting business through social media platforms (such as Xiaohongshu), and then arranged for such illegal workers to work in concealed locations, of the total number of surprise inspections conducted by the Government to combat illegal workers in the past year and the effectiveness of such enforcement actions, including the number of illegal workers and employers arrested in such actions, as well as the number of prosecutions instituted;
(5) regarding the eight newly added skilled trades on the aforesaid Technical Professional List, of the respective numbers of applicants and approved quotas for each trade to date; whether it has plans to dynamically adjust the quotas for each trade based on the progress of local training and manpower supply; if not, whether it will consider establishing a mechanism which allows both additions and deductions to avoid excessive quotas and safeguard employment for local skilled personnel; and
(6) whether the Government has grasped Hong Kong's employment situation in respect of dependants of individuals coming to Hong Kong under various talent admission schemes (including individuals coming to Hong Kong who meet the qualifications under the Technical Professional List), including information such as the trades in which they engaged, their income levels and educational backgrounds, and whether it has assessed the impacts of the employment situation of such dependants on the local labour market; whether the Government will compile statistics on the information of such dependants when conducting manpower projections or population censuses, so as to assess the relevant manpower supply and demand trends; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
The primary objective of the Government's manpower policy is to nurture local talent, complemented by admission of outside talent. In the face of industrial transformation and a continuously ageing population, the Government has implemented a host of measures to proactively trawl for talent since end-2022 to expand the talent pool. On the premise of ensuring employment priority for local workers, the Government also enhanced the mechanism for importation of labour in 2023 and launched sector-specific labour importation schemes for the construction sector, transport sector, and residential care homes for the elderly and residential care homes for persons with disabilities, as well as the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) to suitably allow employers to apply for importation of workers when they are genuinely unable to recruit suitable local workers. According to the Immigration Ordinance (Cap. 115) (IO), the period of stay of these imported workers in Hong Kong is not regarded as ordinarily residing in Hong Kong and hence they would not obtain the Hong Kong permanent resident status by virtue of their stay as imported workers in Hong Kong. The Government has been closely monitoring the employment market, and making timely and targeted adjustments to the implementation arrangements for labour importation as well as combating illegal workers rigorously, so as to ensure employment priority for local workers and maintain labour supply to support Hong Kong's economic development.
In 2025, the Government introduced a new channel under the General Employment Policy (GEP) and the Admission Scheme for Mainland Talents and Professionals (ASMTP) targeting specified skilled trades facing acute manpower shortage to allow young and experienced non-degree professionals to come to Hong Kong to replenish the local labour force. Vocational professionals admitted to Hong Kong through these two channels may accumulate years of residence in Hong Kong and apply to become Hong Kong permanent residents in future if meeting the specified eligibility criteria under the IO. They are therefore fundamentally different from imported workers and the two should not be conflated together.
In consultation with the Security Bureau (SB) and the Census and Statistics Department (C&SD), the reply to the Member's question is as follows:
(1) and (2) ESLS requires employers applying for importation of labour to meet the manning ratio requirement of full-time local employees to imported workers (manning ratio requirement). In general, employers shall have employed two full-time local workers for bringing in one imported worker. Full time employees refer to local employees who are directly employed by an employer and work not less than 35 hours per week for operating the relevant business, excluding part time staff, staff of sub contractor(s) or self employed person(s) providing services to the employer.
The Chief Executive announced in the 2025 Policy Address new measures, including implementing from September 18 this year a more stringent manning ratio requirement of 2:1 when employers apply for the posts of waiter/waitress and junior cook by changing the calculation basis of applying the ratio from all posts of an applicant employer to each post under application. In other words, an employer applying to import a waiter/waitress and a junior cook must have already employed two local full-time waiters/waitresses and two local full-time junior cooks. The new measure focuses on job categories with more imported workers, responding to changes in the labour market of that industry in a targeted manner with a view to ensuring priority employment for local workers.
Employers shall truthfully report the number of full-time local employees when submitting ESLS applications. An employer knowingly or recklessly makes a statement which is false or misleading during the application commits an offence and is liable to prosecution. The Labour Department (LD) rigorously processes each application to ensure compliance with ESLS requirements. During the vetting process, the LD thoroughly reviews the documents and information submitted by an employer, and takes into account factors such as the industry of the employer and business nature, company size, details of applied posts and past application records. If necessary, the LD will require an employer to provide additional information or supporting documents, or arrange Labour Inspectors to conduct inspection to an employer's office and workplace(s) of prospective imported worker(s) to verify the application information.
Employers with approval to import workers shall meet the manning ratio requirement on a continuous basis. The LD launched a special inspection campaign in June this year to check whether establishments employing imported workers had continuously met the manning ratio requirement. The LD also requires employers to report information on full-time local employees and imported workers as well as the relevant manning ratios based on a risk-based approach. The LD does not tolerate any acts of non-compliance and will impose administrative sanction if there is sufficient evidence, including withdrawal of approvals for importation of workers previously granted to the employer(s) and refusal to process other subsequent applications with a debarment period up to two years.
As at end-August this year, there were around 35 000 imported workers working in Hong Kong under ESLS, accounting for around 1 per cent of Hong Kong's labour force. The Government does not have statistical information on the proportion of local workers in individual job categories.
The Government will continue to closely monitor changes in the local labour market and the manpower situation of different industries, and adopt a flexible and targeted approach in making adjustments to the implementation arrangements of ESLS if necessary.
(3) and (4) The Government is committed to combating illegal employment so as to safeguard employment opportunities of local workers. It is a serious offence to engage in illegal employment. Illegal workers, employers, as well as persons aiding and abetting illegal employment will be liable to prosecution in accordance with the IO.
On strengthening intelligence collection and strict law enforcement, various law enforcement agencies have been proactively collecting intelligence and conducting joint operations to raid premises suspected of having illegal employment activities. According to the records of the Immigration Department (ImmD), the monthly average number of law enforcement operations against illegal workers (including joint operations with other departments including the Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF)) conducted in January to August 2025 was 5.1 per cent more than that in 2024. The relevant figures are tabulated below:
| Year | Number of operations |
| 2024 | 17 906 |
| 2025 (up to August) [Compared with the monthly average of 2024] |
12 543 [+5.1 per cent] |
During the same period of 2025, the monthly average numbers of illegal workers and employers arrested and prosecuted both increased compared with that in 2024. The relevant figures are tabulated below:
| Year | Illegal workers | Employers | ||
| Arrested | Prosecuted | Arrested | Prosecuted | |
| 2024 | 1 268 | 1 013 | 513 | 169 |
| 2025 (up to August) [Compared with the monthly average of 2024] |
869 [+2.8 per cent] |
756 [+11.9 per cent] |
407 [+19.0 per cent] |
127 [+12.7 per cent] |
Targeting lawbreakers making use of online platforms to recruit and arrange illegal workers to come to Hong Kong, the Cybercrime and Forensics Investigation Group of the ImmD conducts constant cyber patrols. It will take enforcement actions by, among others, decoy operations against any person who is found using social media platforms or instant messaging software to organise, arrange or incite the public to commit serious crimes, such as illegal employment. If the Mainland online platforms are involved, the ImmD will exchange intelligence with the Mainland authorities and urge them to arrange with the relevant platforms for taking appropriate follow-up actions, such as taking down the posts involved. For example, in late August and early September this year, the ImmD noticed through cyber patrols that some Mainland photographers and make-up artists were promoting on social media platforms, claiming that they could provide services in Hong Kong. After investigation and conducting decoy operation, the ImmD arrested a total of 10 persons, including eight Mainland illegal workers.
Besides, on the same day of the delivery of the 2025 Policy Address (September 17), the ImmD launched the Dedicated Hotline for Reporting Illegal Workers (3861 5000) in order to encourage the public to actively report illegal employment-related acts. In the first two weeks since the launch of the reporting hotline, the ImmD had already received over 100 telephone reports. The ImmD will widely promote the reporting hotline and actively follow up on each report, including taking enforcement actions based on intelligence analysis.
To further step up efforts in combating illegal employment, the SB established in September 2025 an Inter-departmental Task Force against Illegal Employment (Task Force), including members from the Labour and Welfare Bureau (LWB), the Education Bureau, the Transport and Logistics Bureau, the ImmD, the HKPF, the LD and the Transport Department. The first meeting of the Task Force was convened on October 2, 2025, at which the Task Force discussed the current situation of illegal employment, and agreed to enhance inter-departmental coordination on various fronts, including formulating overall response strategies against illegal employment, enhancing intelligence collection and intelligence exchange with the Mainland, enforcing the laws rigorously, leveraging technology, and co-ordinating relevant publicity and education, so as to combat illegal employment under a multi-pronged approach. The Task Force will continue to closely monitor the situation of illegal employment and formulate overall response strategies in a timely manner to safeguard the employment of local workforce.
(5) The Government introduced the technical professionals stream under GEP and ASMTP from June 30, 2025 to allow outside individuals to apply for entry into Hong Kong to join eight skilled trades facing acute manpower shortage. Applicants are required to be non-degree professionals meeting the relevant qualifications as specified in the Technical Professional List and aged between 18 and 40. According to the prevailing requirements under GEP and ASMTP, relevant technical professionals are required to have secured an employment offer from a local enterprise before making applications, and the remuneration package should be commensurate with the market level for similar jobs. This new arrangement will be piloted for three years with an overall application quota of 10 000, and the application quota for each skilled trade is limited to 3 000 to prevent occupations with larger industry scales from quickly exhausting the quotas. The relevant quota does not represent the Government's target number for admitting technical professionals in individual skilled trades.
The ImmD has been receiving enquiries and is processing the applications received. The new arrangement has only been in place for three months and the Government is closely monitoring its implementation. Relevant statistics will be released later at an opportune time, and a review will be conducted after the new arrangement has been implemented for a year.
(6) When conducting population and labour force projections, the C&SD takes into account the number and demographic characteristics of approved visa holders under various talent admission schemes and their dependents in assessing the long-term development trends of the population and labour force. The household surveys (including the 2026 Population Census) conducted by the C&SD also cover the employment situation of new arrivals living in Hong Kong, including approved visa holders and their dependents. Additionally, the LWB will continue to monitor the employment situation of dependents in Hong Kong. For example, we are collecting information through online surveys on the educational background, employment status and employment intentions, etc, of dependents admitted under the Top Talent Pass Scheme. The information obtained will be considered by the projection models of the mid-term update of the manpower projection. The above information helps the Government gain a more comprehensive understanding of the status of dependents in the local labour market.
Ends/Wednesday, October 8, 2025
Issued at HKT 12:15
Issued at HKT 12:15
NNNN