LCQ14: Ensuring local workers' employment priority and labour rights
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Question:
Various sectors in the community have all along been concerned about the impact of labour importation policy on local workers' employment opportunities and labour rights, and the Supplement to the 2025 Policy Address also states that the Government will announce the findings of the review of the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme in the second quarter of 2026, including measures to safeguard employment priority for local workers. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the monthly number of applications received and approved under various labour importation schemes since 2023, with a breakdown by (i) type of industry of the applicant companies (based on the industry section defined by the Census and Statistics Department for labour statistics), (ii) classification of occupations, and (iii) the number of imported workers involved in each application (e.g. One to 10 persons, 11 to 20 persons, etc);
(2) as there are views pointing out that the Labour Department (LD) has closed three job centres since April last year, which has significantly reduced the network of job centres and industry-based recruitment centres and made it difficult for some local job seekers to obtain immediate and comprehensive employment support services, prompting the chances of getting on-the-spot interviews by attending job fairs to reduce correspondingly, of the reasons for making such arrangements; given that unemployment rate in Hong Kong has rebounded since the beginning of this year, and the increase was particularly notable in some industries such as construction, and on the other hand some companies have continuously applied for labour importation, indicating that there is considerable needs for employment and recruitment in Hong Kong, whether the LD will consider reinstating the number of job centres and industry-based recruitment centres (or at least maintaining the current number) and appropriately increasing the number of job fairs to enhance support for local workers in job-seeking;
(3) of the respective number of service users of LD's job centres and industry-based recruitment centres in each year since 2023, the number of job fairs organised, the number of attendances and employers participating in the job fairs, the average number of interviews offered in each job fair, and the respective rates of change of such numbers in each year;
(4) as it is learnt that apart from the explicit requirement for applicant companies to arrange recruitment days under the Labour Importation Scheme for the Construction Sector and the requirement for employers of the catering industry to organise job fairs at the LD's job centres when importing workers for designated posts, there is no such mandatory requirements for other labour importation schemes/industries, of the reasons for that;
(5) whether it has considered requiring all employers applying for labour importation (regardless of industry, job category and number of workers applied for) to arrange recruitment days and register available jobs at the LD's job centres and industry-based recruitment centres so as to facilitate local job seekers to apply for such vacancies and ensure fairness and sincerity in the local recruitment process, thereby eliminating "bogus recruitment";
(6) of the number of complaints received by the authorities regarding the displacement of local workers with imported workers in each year since 2023 and the industries involved; of the progress and findings of the investigations into such complaints; of the authorities' measures in place to further prevent employers from displacing local workers with imported workers; and
(7) given that intermediaries/organisations (including unlicensed employment agencies) in the market have claimed to assist local companies in applying for labour importation subject to a charge, whether the authorities have plans for regulation in this regard to protect the rights of local workers, imported workers and applicant employers?
Reply:
President,
To cope with the challenges brought by manpower shortage and foster Hong Kong's economic development, the Government, on the premise of ensuring employment priority for local workers, suitably allows employers with genuine difficulty in recruiting suitable local workers to apply for importation of workers. On June 19, 2023, the Labour and Welfare Bureau introduced the Special Scheme to Import Care Workers for Residential Care Homes for the residential care home sector. On July 17, 2023, the Development Bureau (DEVB) and the Transport and Logistics Bureau (TLB) respectively launched sector-specific labour importation schemes for the construction and transport sectors (including the aviation industry and the public light bus/coach trade). In addition, the Labour Department (LD) has implemented the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) since September 4, 2023, allowing employers with genuine needs to apply for importation of workers for posts that were generally excluded under the previous Supplementary Labour Scheme (including the 26 job categories as well as unskilled or low-skilled posts).
In consultation with the DEVB and the TLB, the reply to the Member's question is as follows:
(1) As at September 2025, the numbers of applications received and approved under various labour importation schemes are at Annex 1. A breakdown of the numbers of applications received and approved by industry under the ESLS is at Annex 2. The Government does not maintain breakdowns of the numbers of applications received and approved by post and number of imported workers involved in each application.
(2) and (3) The LD provides diversified and free employment services to job seekers through its job centres and industry-based recruitment centres. In addition, LD's Interactive Employment Service website (iES) and mobile application offer round-the-clock online employment services and employment information. Job seekers can also call the job seeker hotline of the Telephone Employment Service Centre (TESC) of the LD to obtain employment services.
In view of the increasing popularity of online employment services among the general public and to utilise public resources more effectively, the LD has adjusted and enhanced its employment services since April 2024, including extending the daily service hours of job centres and industry-based recruitment centres, introducing voicemail service of the TESC outside office hours, merging certain job centres and redeploying manpower resources, to provide more cost‐effective services to members of the public.
From 2023 to September 2025, the numbers of visitors, job fairs held, participating employers, on-the-spot interviews arranged and the average number of interviews per job fair recorded by job centres and industry-based recruitment centres each year are at Annex 3. The data indicates that from 2024 onwards, job centres and industry-based recruitment centres have recorded increases in the numbers of annual visitors and on-the-spot interviews as well as the average number of interviews per job fair. In tandem, the numbers of page views and usage counts for the iES website and mobile application also recorded year-on-year increases, indicating that the job centres and online employment services continue to provide optimal services to job seekers after redeploying the resources.
The LD will continue to closely monitor changes in the employment market, review the services provided in a timely manner, and make adjustments and enhancements to services in light of the service needs and market situation.
(4) and (5) The requirements and implementation arrangements of various labour importation schemes ensure the employment priority for local workers. Relevant measures include employers applying for importation of labour must first undertake local open recruitment according to the requirements of relevant schemes at a salary not lower than the median monthly wage of a comparable position in the market and accord priority to employing qualified local workers to fill the job vacancies. Employers must also sign a Standard Employment Contract with imported workers, and shall pay a salary not lower than the median monthly wage of a comparable position to prevent the imported workers from becoming "cheap labour" and undermining the employment opportunities of local workers. Besides, employers applying for importation of labour should meet the manning ratio requirement of local employees to imported workers.
For the ESLS, employers shall adopt the recruitment terms agreed by the LD and undergo local recruitment for the applied posts. During the recruitment period, the LD will publish the job vacancies on iES, conduct job matching for relevant vacancies and disseminate the vacancy information to members of the Labour Advisory Board, relevant trade unions and training institutions to facilitate their referral of suitable local job seekers for application. Upon completion of the local recruitment procedures, employers shall report the results to the LD. If an employer is unsuccessful in employing suitable candidate(s), the LD will contact each local job seeker who is not employed to verify the interview details. If there is evidence showing that an employer has violated the requirements of local recruitment or refused to employ qualified local job seekers without reasonable grounds, the LD will terminate the processing of the relevant application. The LD will also impose administrative sanction on the employer and refuse to process any other application(s) submitted by the concerned employer, with a debarment period up to two years.
The 2025 Policy Address announced that, with effect from September 18, 2025, the local recruitment period of employers applying for importing waiters/waitresses and junior cooks will be extended from four weeks to six weeks, during which an employer must attend an on-site job fair once a week at a job centre assigned by the LD. This measure takes into account changes in the labour market of individual industries and focuses on job categories with more imported workers. The Government will continue to closely monitor changes in the employment situation and adopt a flexible approach to adjust the implementation arrangements, striving to ensure the priority for local employment.
(6) Employers approved to import workers shall not displace serving local employees with imported workers. In the event of redundancy, imported workers should be retrenched first. The LD has implemented new measures since June 2025, including launching an online complaint form on the ESLS dedicated webpage to enable local employees and imported workers to lodge complaints against employers over suspected breaches of the ESLS requirements. In addition, Labour Inspectors of the LD conduct inspections of workplaces of imported workers from time to time to verify whether employers are complying with the ESLS requirements. If an employer has violated relevant requirements, the LD will impose administrative sanction on that employer, including withdrawal of approvals for importation of labour previously granted to the employer and refusal to process other subsequent applications for labour importation in the following two years.
Since the implementation of the ESLS on September 4, 2023, the LD received one, 19 and 321 complaints in 2023 (from September 4 to December 31), 2024 and 2025 (as at September 30) respectively alleging that employers had displaced serving local employees with imported workers. These complaints mainly involved food and beverage services, manufacturing and cleaning services. The LD has launched investigations into all complaints received, including conducting inspections and evidence-gathering at the workplaces of imported workers, verifying with employers and employees in detail whether the numbers of local staff had decreased after the arrival of imported workers, the reasons for the decrease and whether the employers had undertaken local recruitment to fill the vacancies left by the departing local workers.
Of the above complaints received, the LD completed the investigation of 68 cases, of which 67 did not have sufficient evidence to establish that the employers had violated the ESLS requirements, while the remaining cases are still under investigation. In one of the cases where a violation was found, the LD announced on August 29, 2025 the imposition of administrative sanction on that employer, and withdrew the approvals for importation of labour previously granted and refused to process its subsequent applications for labour importation in the following two years.
(7) Any person or institution who operates a business in Hong Kong for the purpose of obtaining employment for another person or supplying the labour of another person to an employer is regarded as an employment agency (EA) and is subject to regulation under the Employment Ordinance, the Employment Agency Regulations and the Code of Practice for Employment Agencies. All EAs operating in Hong Kong, regardless of their mode of operation or categories of jobs offered (including those involving imported workers), must first obtain an EA licence issued by the LD before commencing operation. If any person or institution is found operating an EA without a valid licence, the LD will conduct investigations seriously and take enforcement actions, and instigate prosecution where there is sufficient evidence to substantiate an offence. The LD also reminds the public on the dedicated webpage of the ESLS to stay vigilant towards advertisements or messages claiming to provide services for recruiting Mainland workers and to ascertain the capability of an enterprise to operate the business to avoid being deceived or misled, which may result in financial loss or delay in the processing of applications.
Besides, to strengthen the protection for Mainland workers, the Government requires employers who are granted approval-in-principle/quotas to import workers under various labour importation schemes and intend to import workers from the Mainland must recruit the workers through enterprises which have been approved by the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and granted the permission to operate business on labour service co-operation with the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Government has implemented a monitoring mechanism that requires employers to submit designated documents containing information about the relevant approved labour service enterprises when applying for entry permits for the Mainland workers with the Immigration Department (ImmD). Otherwise, the ImmD will not process relevant applications.
Ends/Wednesday, October 15, 2025
Issued at HKT 12:18
Issued at HKT 12:18
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