HONG KONG: Business is booming in China and Hong Kong for accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers, but for partner Dave McCann that’s a problem.
Heavy merger-and-acquisition activity in China and a rush of new share issues in Hong Kong is driving demand for the firm’s services, but McCann, who looks after hiring, can’t find suitably qualified staff in Hong Kong to keep pace with growth.
“We have far more needs than we can meet. There is simply a lack of enough candidates of sufficient quality,” said McCann.
PricewaterhouseCoopers is not alone. So acute is the shortage of well-educated workers in the territory that the government has been forced to rethink its immigration policies. Yet analysts say the plans may not go far enough.
Failure to take stronger action could lead to a loss of business, exacerbating Hong Kong’s slide down global competitiveness rankings as rivals such as Singapore push ahead to attract foreign professionals.
“Singapore has been very successful in attracting foreign talent,” said Gary Lazzarotto, Asian chief executive of global executive recruiters Hudson. “Hong Kong’s initiatives are not fully fleshed out, they are still at the planning stage but we’d welcome anything that frees up the labour market.”
Hong Kong’s expanding role as a Greater China financial and supply chain hub has created a demand for professionals which cannot be met by a local workforce of just 3.6 million.
Unlike arch-rival Singapore, which has encouraged foreign professionals to work in the city state, Hong Kong has been more cautious for fear of a public backlash because unemployment levels are high, largely the result of low-skilled jobs shifting to China.
But a government study showing the territory would be short of 100,000 well-educated workers by 2007 has forced the government into action.
Plans include giving spouses of non-mainland expatriates the automatic right to work in Hong Kong from this summer.
A “quality migrant scheme” is also on the cards to allow 1,000 foreign professionals a year based on age and qualifications to live in Hong Kong without a prior job offer, officials said.
A scheme launched three years ago to encourage mainland Chinese professionals to work in Hong Kong had drawn more than 12,000 applications by the end of March this year, the government said.
“The aim of the admission scheme for mainland talent and professionals is to meet companies’ needs and enhance Hong Kong’s competitiveness in the global market-place,” said Chan Leung-yuk, Hong Kong’s principal immigration officer.
Apart from a lack of available professionals to fill jobs, other factors are also preventing job posts from being filled, such as bad air pollution and a shortage of places at international schools as more locals opt for English-language education.
In a ranking of desirable postings by consultancy ECA International, Hong Kong slumped to 32nd place from 20th last year.
The number of foreign residents in Hong Kong slipped to 517,560 at the end of 2005 from 524,200 at the end of 2004.
“Hong Kong needs to make itself a more attractive location,” McCann said. “It has become expensive again. Accommodation is small and expensive, the air pollution is bad and education costs may be higher than people are used to elsewhere.”—Reuters
