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Coronavirus Hong Kong
Business

Hong Kong companies among world’s most aggressive in hiring new talent, study says

  • Talent shortage expected to persist in the long term, executive at human resources platform Deel says
  • Hong Kong companies are most commonly hiring remote workers from Ukraine, India, Philippines, the UK and the US, the Deel study shows

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Hong Kong’s Central business district. Hong Kong recorded a net outflow of 60,000 residents last year, contributing to a third straight year of population decline in the city. Photo: Elson Li
Cheryl Arcibal
Hong Kong companies are among the world’s fastest hiring firms, a new study by human resources platform Deel shows. This suggests that the city’s dearth of talent remains a problem following an exodus of professionals and expatriates last year at the height of Hong Kong’s worst wave of Covid-19 infections.

Based on more than 260,000 worker contracts across 160 countries, as well as over 500,000 data points from third-party sources, Deel Lab, the research and policy unit of Deel, found that Hong Kong ranked sixth in the world in terms of organisations’ rate of hiring, and second only to Australia in Asia-Pacific. Moreover, of all 2022 contracts, 89 per cent were for remote work.

“Hong Kong being the second-fastest growing market in Asia-Pacific by organisations’ rate of hiring comes as no surprise,” said Karen Ng, regional head of expansion and market lead in Hong Kong, Singapore, Asean and India at Deel. “The talent shortage is still a pain point, but we’re seeing Hong Kong companies looking globally to fill talent gaps in the market, and adding more remote workers to their workforce – even as the city is opening up.

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“We expect this trend to stay … in the long term.”

02:23

Travellers praise restriction-free movement as last closed Hong Kong-mainland China borders reopen

Travellers praise restriction-free movement as last closed Hong Kong-mainland China borders reopen
Hong Kong recorded a net outflow of 60,000 residents last year, contributing to a third straight year of population decline in the city, according to official figures released on Thursday.
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This could indicate that the city might need to attract more talent from across the globe to replenish its human resources and rev up an economy that has been battered since 2019, when unprecedented social unrest broke out. It was immediately followed by the devastating coronavirus pandemic.
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