Should Hong Kong’s elderly care sector import foreign labour amid chronic manpower shortage?
Views are mixed on how to tackle the issue, but biggest union in city expresses openness towards bringing in workers from overseas
Hong Kong’s largest union is divided on the issue of recruiting workers from abroad after a core member on Saturday said he “did not necessarily oppose” the idea for subsidised elderly nursing homes.
The remarks by Wong Kwok-kin, a lawmaker and member of the Executive Council that advises the city’s leader on policy, were in contrast with the view of colleague Stanley Ng Chau-pei, chairman of the pro-Beijing Federation of Trade Unions. Ng said employers had not done enough to lure local talent.
The government must do more to help those caring for the elderly
Wong’s comments echoed other calls for the use of foreign labour in the elderly care sector, which is badly short of staff.
“Foreign labour was recruited when the new airport was built [in the 1990s] ... The importation of labour is not forbidden ground in Hong Kong,” Wong said.
He cited the Supplementary Labour Scheme, which allows employers facing hiring difficulties to import workers at technician level or below. Some private nursing homes have already recruited staff from elsewhere, mostly from the mainland.
