Anger at lack of consultation over talents list

Legislative Council members have voiced concern over mismatches in the occupation list for overseas and mainland talents.

In a manpower panel meeting yesterday, one member complained of there being too many Chinese medicine practitioners in Hong Kong whereas another grumbled about the exclusion of accountants from the list as the panel members discussed the expansion of the list to 51 occupations last month.

Panel chairman Michael Luk Chung-hung of the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress questioned why the government only consulted them a month after the list was expanded.

"Although my question may be a buzzkill, I wonder if the authorities are consulting or simply notifying us at this meeting as the [updated] list has already been launched," Luk said.

Luk said the city's door to foreign labor is now "wide open."

Under the policy, employers are no longer required to wait for four weeks to hire a local before looking overseas to recruit skills on the occupation list that includes Chinese medicine practitioners.

Chan Wing-kwong, a Chinese medicine practitioner, accused the authorities of not consulting the sector beforehand.

The Election Committee constituency representative said that while the government was cutting subsidies for Chinese medicine undergraduate programs on the one hand, it wa saying there was a shortage in the sector on the other hand.

Principal assistant secretary for health Derek Lee Tung-yan said more practitioners would be needed when the Chinese medicine hospital in Tseung Kwan O opens in 2025.

Edmund Wong Chun-sek, who represents the accountancy sector, was puzzled by its absence from the list, saying there is a demand for them in every sector.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han did not comment whether the Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants had been consulted or not, only promising to reply to Wong in writing.

Meanwhile, in response to a walkout by six Labour Advisory Board members on Monday in protest over the government's plan to import 20,000 transport and construction workers and temporarily allow low-skilled foreign labor in 26 job types, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu reiterated it was necessary to bring in the workers to ease a labor shortage.

Since talent-related visa programs were launched in December, a total of 84,000 applications have been received. As of last month, about 49,000 applications were approved, Lee said, well above the annual target of attracting 35,000 talented people.