'Talent Scheme Expansion Step In Right Direction'

The Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management on Wednesday said expanding the talent scheme to lure more overseas workers is "a step in the right direction".

Roy Ying, co-chair of the institute's advocacy and policy research committee, made the comment after the government expanded the scheme from the current 13 job types to 51. They include positions in the performing arts, development and construction, healthcare and financial services.

Ying said a recent survey of its members found that 85 percent reported immense difficulty in filling vacancies over the previous six months - across all sectors.

Speaking on RTHK's Hong Kong Today, he said it was a good idea to be able to expand or reduce the talent list depending on the local manpower situation.

"Employers in Hong Kong always prefer to hire talents from Hong Kong, as you can imagine. Bringing talents from overseas would inevitably involve extra expenses, additional processes, and maybe a learning process for the expatriate to become productive", he said.

However, Ying acknowledged that the expansion of the scheme was a "short-term fix", adding that he could see a potential bottleneck regarding qualification recognition by local institutes.

"Professional qualifications often require a number of years of experience, certain tests, certain degrees, exams, so this is not something that can be done quite overnight."

Ying said he had some questions about the market availability test under the scheme, and said the institute wanted more details on the checks and balances for specific professions.

"Some of the industries, for example architects and surveyors, there are local qualifications that they have to go through, certain checks and balances, before they can be admitted, so that's not a worry," he said.

"But for the others, I would like to see more details, for example mid-wives, actors and actresses, how do we go through this process so that we know these are talents that cannot be found in Hong Kong and how are they suitable?"