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Blueprint for youth development. 上|How to give full play to the strengths of young people who pay more attention to education and employment than entrepreneurship and home purchase

2023-01-06T09:48:40.612Z


The Home Affairs and Youth Affairs Bureau announced the "Blueprint for Youth Development" ("Blueprint") on December 20 last year. In the first phase, about 170 youth policies were put forward, hoping to provide a favorable environment for young people and let them have hope for the future. "


The Home Affairs and Youth Affairs Bureau announced the "Blueprint for Youth Development" ("Blueprint") on December 20 last year. In the first stage, about 170 youth policies were put forward, hoping to provide a favorable environment for young people, so that they have hope for the future, "become patriotic A new generation who loves Hong Kong, has a global vision, is ambitious, and has positive thinking." The reporter of "Hong Kong 01" found that the distribution of various measures is uneven, and 70% of the projects are related to studies, employment, entrepreneurship, and home ownership. The "four industries" are related, but in terms of the "three politics", there are only 4 issues of discussion and 3 issues of political discussion, and there is no sign of participating in politics.


The Home Affairs and Youth Affairs Bureau will announce the "Blueprint for Youth Development" on 20 December 2022.

(Photo by Yu Junliang)

To inspire youth and light up the future?

It can be seen from the statistics

(see the figure below)

that for the SAR government, cultivating the "four industries" of young people is much more important than the "three policies".

Among them, 54 (32%) are internships, career planning and exchange programs, 41 (24%) are employment, entrepreneurship and on-the-job training, 25 (15%) are national security education, values ​​education, and 21 Items relate to secondary and tertiary schools.

Guo Dongwang, a researcher at the MWYO Youth Office, a private think tank that focuses on youth issues, welcomes the government's launch of the "Blueprint", which shows that the authorities attach importance to youth development and are willing to provide vision and social goals. This is a "good start" for youth work.

However, he also observed that the "Blueprint" puts more emphasis on studies and employment in the "Four Industries" and discussing and discussing politics in the "Three Policies", but neglects entrepreneurship, home ownership and political participation.

He agrees that "emphasizing academic employment" and "emphasizing entrepreneurship and home ownership" are both correct directions, because compared with starting a business and buying a home, studying and working are both necessary stages in life, so even if there is a bias in resources, it is understandable.

However, many studies analyzing youth issues have pointed out that youth's education, employment, entrepreneurship, and home ownership are closely related to the deep-seated contradictions in Hong Kong, especially the solidified structure and single industry, which make them feel bleak about the future.

In this regard, the Democratic Youth Bureau stated in the "Exploration Chapter" of the "Blueprint" that it will provide young people with "providing high-quality and diverse education" to explore interests and aspirations from learning; career development, including related industries listed in the "National 14th Five-Year Plan" as Hong Kong's "eight major positioning": finance, innovation and technology, culture and art, trade, shipping, aviation, legal services, and intellectual property trade; the "Blueprint" also When it comes to engineering, surveying, urban planning, construction, environmental protection, medical and health care and other emerging industries, the overall hope is that students will be able to use what they have learned and make full use of their strengths.

Among the approximately 170 measures, 54 (32%) are internships, career planning and exchange programs, 41 (24%) are employment, entrepreneurship and on-the-job training, and 25 (15%) are national security education, values Education, and another 21 related to secondary and post-secondary.

(Hong Kong 01)

Have an internship but no development?

However, the premise of multiple education and multiple employment must be "diversified industries".

After careful study, among the "eight major positionings" in the "National 14th Five-Year Plan", only the three traditional industries of finance, trade and logistics, and professional services have developed more maturely, accounting for 20% of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2021. 56.4% of the total; the rest of the positioning and industries are still "visions". For example, the innovation and technology industry accounts for only 0.9% of GDP, and the cultural and creative industry accounts for 4.5%.

With strong support from the state, emerging industries certainly have "a promising future," but young people may not have the capital and courage to be "the first to eat crabs."

This is also reflected in the orientation of young people to study courses.

According to the 2021 data compiled by "Blueprint", about 1.19 million young people have received post-secondary education, of which about 360,000 (30%) are studying business, and another 223,000 (19%) are studying literature and social sciences ; However, only about 180,000 people (15%) study computer, mechanical, electrical, electronic, and marine engineering subjects, which are closely related to the innovation and technology that the government is vigorously promoting. Compared with the former two, they are a minority.

Statistics from studies to careers can also clearly find that young people refuse to be "pioneering cows" in emerging industries.

Also in 2021, there will be 1.41 million youth working people between 15 and 39 years old, and the most people will be engaged in traditional industries, such as public administration, education, human health care and social work activities, with 324,300 people (23%); followed by real estate, professional and commercial services, with 243,930 people (17%); the third is import and export, wholesale and retail, with 239,700 people (17%); the last is cultural and creative industries and innovative technology industries, with only 225,900 people and 4,600 people People, pale in comparison.

In 2021, the industries that most young people in Hong Kong are engaged in will still be public and traditional industries.

(Source: Screenshot of "Youth Development Blueprint")

Planning industry, collaborative development

Looking at the classification of measures alone, the Blueprint does not propose to support more "youth-inspired" industries, such as live broadcasters, e-sports players, extreme sports, chess competitions, and so on.

The words "study" and "employment" that seem to be more important are just repeated words such as "communication", "internship" and "career planning", which appear 30 times, 41 times and 14 times respectively.

The "Blueprint" is determined to "inspire the youth and brighten the future", but in terms of implementation, if it fails to develop multiple industries and create more high-end good jobs, no matter how much career planning teachers help students do, how the business community strengthens cooperation with the school, and all walks of life How to provide practical opportunities in various industries, I believe that the space for "inspiration" is limited, and the "future" is also imagination.

Guo Dongwang said that in the environment of a single industrial structure, the government must help young people face the challenges of stepping out of school and stepping into society, and assist them in a smooth transition, such as providing more internship opportunities in middle schools and colleges, so that they can understand the operation of the workplace , thus equipping yourself.

He suggested formulating a "Blueprint for the Revitalization of Emerging Industries in Hong Kong" to formulate long-term development plans for each specific industry, and to promote the cooperation between different industries on a macro basis to produce synergistic effects.

Guo Dongwang, a researcher at the MWYO Youth Office, believes that the government should formulate a blueprint for the revitalization of emerging industries in Hong Kong and formulate long-term development plans for each specific industry.

(provided by respondents)

Real estate-led, more difficult to buy

The "Blueprint" introduces four policies regarding the housing needs of young people: one is to subsidize non-government organizations to rent suitable hotels and hostels and convert the rooms into youth dormitories, aiming to provide about 3,000 additional places within five years; two It is to find suitable land sales projects, and developers are required to reserve a certain number of units to support the youth dormitory plan; the third is to continue to increase housing supply, and it is estimated that a total of 158,000 traditional public housing, "simple public housing" and "green form housing" will be added in the next five years. The Home Purchase Scheme and the Home Ownership Scheme and other public housing units; the fourth is to launch the "First Home" project in this year's Land Sale Scheme to help young people buy homes.

The government has launched "home ownership" and youth dormitories, hoping to provide independent housing for young people and rebuild the ladder of home ownership.

However, as initially recorded in the "Blueprint", the ratio of young people aged 25 to 39 living with their parents has risen from 45.7% in 2011 to 52.7% in 2021; The few "first homes" are just a drop in the bucket.

In fact, as long as the authorities continue to focus on "home ownership" as the leading housing policy, property prices will continue to far exceed the burdens of many citizens. On the contrary, "home ownership" will become a living problem for different age groups, making it even more difficult for young people to find a place to live.

Blueprint for youth development.

上|How to give full play to the strengths of young people who pay more attention to education and employment than entrepreneurship and home purchase

Source: hk1

All news articles on 2023-01-06

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