Following is a question by the Hon Chau Siu-chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Mr Chris Sun, in the Legislative Council today (October 22):
 
Question:
 
     Regarding imported labour in the catering and hotel-related industries, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) of the respective numbers of imported labour involved in applications concerning the catering and hotel-related industries (i) received, (ii)‍ approved, and (iii) rejected by the authorities since the launch of the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS), and among the approved applications, (iv) the number of imported labour who have arrived in Hong Kong, with a breakdown of the figures by (a)‍ common post in the catering and hotel-related industries listed in the List of Common Posts under the ESLS (including the relevant posts classified as "Others", e.g. Kitchen Helper/Chef Assistant and Dish Washer), and (b) non-common post (set out in Tables 1 and 2 respectively); the main reasons for rejecting the applications;

Table 1

Common posts in the catering and hotel-related industries	(i)	(ii)	(iii)	(iv)
Catering - Chinese catering
……
Sub-total
Catering - Non-Chinese catering
……
Sub-total
Hotel - Chinese restaurants operated by hotels
……
Sub-total
Hotel - Hotels
……
Sub-total
Others
Kitchen Helper/Chef Assistant
Dish Washer
……
Sub-total
Total

Table 2

Non-common posts in the catering and hotel-related industries	(i)	(ii)	(iii)	(iv)
……
Total

(2) as employers applying for importation of workers under the ESLS are required to undertake local public recruitment exercises and the Labour Department will identify local job-seekers for referrals to these employers for interviews, of the respective numbers of local job-seekers referred by the authorities in respect of the applications concerning the catering and hotel-related industries in each year since the implementation of the ESLS, and among them, the number of job-seekers who have successfully secured employment, and their respective percentages, with a breakdown by job category (e.g. ‍waiters/waitresses, junior cooks and cooks);

(3) as it is required under the ESLS that imported labour are only allowed to work in the positions and perform job duties as specified in a Standard Employment Contract, there are views relaying that some employers in the catering industry have failed to fulfil such requirement by hiring junior imported labour (e.g. junior cooks) at lower wages and requiring them to take up positions at higher levels (e.g. No. 1 Cooks) and perform advanced duties beyond their designated scope of duties, thus affecting employment opportunities for local workers, of the targeted measures put in place by the authorities to combat such non-compliant acts;

(4) as the authorities indicated in June this year that a special inspection campaign would be launched to verify whether employers under the ESLS were able to meet the manning ratio requirements of full-time local employees to imported labour of 2:1 on a continuous basis, of the respective numbers of inspections conducted for applications concerning the catering and hotel-related industries so far and the number of enterprises involved; whether cases have been found during inspections in which employers have failed to meet the relevant manning ratio requirements; if so, of the details (including the number of cases and names of employers);

(5) as the authorities indicated in June this year that it would require employers under the ESLS to report information on full-time local employees and imported labour as well as the relevant manning ratios based on a risk-based approach, of the respective numbers of employers in the catering and hotel-related industries who have been asked to report such information so far, and their percentages in the total numbers of employers in all those industries under the ESLS; whether it will consider requiring all employers of imported labour to report such information on a regular basis;

(6) of the respective numbers of complaints received by the Government from (i) local workers and (ii) imported labour in the catering and hotel-related industries about the alleged non-compliance with requirements under the ESLS and/or the labour legislation by employers in each year since implementation of the ESLS, with a breakdown by nature of complaints; of the manpower deployed by the authorities to investigate those cases;

(7) regarding the complaints mentioned in (6), of the number of cases in respect of which investigations have been completed, and among which, the number of cases confirmed or ruled by the court to be non-compliant with the requirements under the ESLS and/or the labour legislation, and the following information for each of such cases: (i) ‍dates of complaints, (ii) commencement and (iii) completion dates of investigation, (iv) names of employers and (v) the industries to which they belong, (vi) details of non-compliance and/or violations (e.g. the employers involved are confirmed to have dismissed local employees or reduced their working hours after hiring imported labour, and the number of local employees affected), (vii) details of the administrative sanctions imposed and/or prosecutions instituted by the authorities, and (viii) penalties imposed by the court (if ‍applicable); and

(8) as it has been reported that a significant number of the approved applications under the ESLS involve positions engaging in job categories concerning the catering and hotel-related industries (including waiters/waitresses, junior cooks, and cooks), whether the authorities will consider regularly collecting and compiling statistics on employment data (including unemployment rates and underemployment rates) for local workers engaged in those job categories, and gain an understanding of the changes in such data, so as to provide additional reference information when reviewing and adjusting the ESLS?

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. Apart from launching 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, the Labour Department (LD) has implemented the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) since September 4, 2023 to suspend the general exclusion of the 26 job categories as well as unskilled or low-skilled posts from labour importation under the previous Supplementary Labour Scheme (SLS) to supplement the labour force required for sustaining the economic momentum.
     
     The reply to the Member's question is as follows:

(1) Since its implementation and as at September 2025, the ESLS received a total of 7 932 applications from the food and beverage services industry and 223 applications from the accommodation services industry, involving 60 449 and 2 982 imported workers respectively. During the period, 5 188 and 167 applications from the food and beverage services industry, and the accommodation services industry were approved respectively. The numbers of imported workers approved were 35 589 and 2 102 respectively. A breakdown of the number of imported workers applied for and approved by job title for the two aforesaid industries is at Annex 1. 

     During the same period, 10 applications from the food and beverage services industry were rejected, involving 44 imported workers. A breakdown of the number of imported workers involved in the rejected applications by job title is at Annex 2. Applications were rejected mainly because employers had failed to meet the manning ratio requirement of full-time local employees to imported workers of 2:1 (manning ratio) or had adverse records. No application from the accommodation services industry was rejected during the same period.

     As at August 2025, there were respectively 16 622 and 547 imported workers working in the food and beverage services industry, and the accommodation services industry in Hong Kong under the SLS/ESLS. The LD does not maintain a breakdown of the number of imported workers working in the food and beverage services industry, and the accommodation services industry in Hong Kong by job title.
     
(2) As at September 2025, the LD made 1 257 and 441 job referrals under the ESLS for the food and beverage services industry, and the accommodation services industry respectively during the local recruitment exercises conducted by employers.107 and 33 job seekers respectively received employment offers from the employers. A breakdown of the number of job referrals by job title is at Annex 3. 

(3) To safeguard the employment opportunities of local workers, employers approved to import workers must sign a Standard Employment Contract (SEC) with imported workers and shall pay a salary not lower than the median monthly wage of a comparable position. Imported workers shall only work in the positions and carry out job duties as specified in SEC, and at the designated workplace(s). Change in positions or job duties is not allowed. The LD launched an online complaint form on the ESLS dedicated webpage to enable local employees and imported workers to lodge complaints against employers for suspected breaches of the requirements of the ESLS. 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 the employer, including withdrawal of approvals for importation of labour previously granted to the employer and refusal to process applications submitted in the following two years.

(4) and (5) To strengthen the protection of employment priority for local workers, the LD has implemented new measures since June 2025, including launching a special inspection campaign to check whether establishments employing imported workers had continuously met the manning ratio requirement, and requiring employers, based on a risk-based approach, to report information on full-time local employees and imported workers as well as the relevant manning ratio. The LD conducted 324 inspections during the special inspection campaign, and the majority of the concerned employers complied with the manning ratio requirement. The LD is conducting further investigation into cases where preliminary information indicates that employers have failed to comply with the manning ratio requirement. Besides, the LD requested more than 150 employers in the food and beverage services industry to report information on full-time local employees and imported workers as well as the relevant manning ratio based on a risk-based approach. No violation was detected.

(6) and (7) Since the implementation of the ESLS, the LD received one, 22 and 327 complaints against employers in the food and beverage services industry in 2023 (from September 4 to December 31), 2024 and 2025 (as at September) respectively. Besides, from September 4, 2023 to December 31, 2024, the LD did not receive any complaint involving the accommodation services industry, while three relevant complaints were received in 2025 (as at September). A breakdown by major complaint items is at Annex 4. As complainants need not disclose their identity, the LD does not maintain a breakdown of the number of complaints by the identity of complainants.
     
     The LD has launched investigation into all complaints received, including conducting inspections and gathering evidence at workplaces of imported workers, meeting with employers and employees individually and verifying relevant employment records. As the staff responsible for investigating complaints also undertake other duties, the manpower involved in investigation work cannot be separately identified.

     Of the above complaints involving the food and beverage services industry, and the accommodation services industry, the LD completed investigations of all complaints received in 2023 and 2024. Among the 61 cases of which investigations were completed, there was insufficient evidence to establish employers' violation of the ESLS requirements in 60 cases, while the other cases are still under investigation. For reason of confidentiality, the LD will not disclose information of individual complaints. For a case involving an employer in the food and beverage services industry who displaced local employees with imported workers, the LD announced on August 29, 2025 the imposition of administrative sanction on the employer, withdrawing the approvals-in-principle for importation of labour previously granted and refusing to process applications submitted by the employer in the following two years.

     In addition, regarding the aforementioned complaints and legal non-compliances of individual employers, the LD respectively imposed administrative sanctions in 2024 and 2025 on one and six employers of the food and beverage services industry, and the accommodation services industry who had violated the Employees' Compensation Ordinance, the Immigration Ordinance or the requirements of the ESLS. The LD withdrew their approvals for importation of labour previously granted, and/or refused to process their subsequent applications with a debarment period up to two years. The employers who violated the law were fined between $1,600 and $24,000.

(8) The Government has been dynamically monitoring changes in the employment market, maintaining close liaison with the stakeholders, and making reference to various statistical data and relevant statistical analyses on employment and income of local employees regularly published by the Census and Statistics Department. In response to the latest labour market situation, the Government adopts a flexible and targeted approach to adjust the implementation arrangements of the ESLS with a view to ensuring employment priority for local workers.
 
     The Labour and Welfare Bureau has just commenced the mid-term update of the Manpower Projection and will accord priority to data analysis for industries with a higher proportion of imported labour, with a view to providing the relevant part of analytical results in advance for reference in reviewing the ESLS and supporting the Government's medium- to long-term planning. 

Ends/Wednesday, October 22, 2025
Issued at HKT 11:40

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