A latest survey on employment prospects found that although the interviewed "wage earners" faced a reduction in the rate of being asked to suspend work and pay cuts or worry that the company would go bankrupt, they had no expectations for this year's salary adjustment. 52% of the respondents expected This year, wages will be frozen, and 20% are expected to cut wages.
As for whether the relaxation of anti-epidemic measures by the government can boost their confidence in employment and increase consumption, 54% of the respondents said that it had no effect on employment confidence, and 61% even said that it did not increase consumption as a result.
Since 2020, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong has regularly conducted a survey on "Citizens' Opinions on Employment Prospects" every six months. This is the fifth survey of its kind. During the period from November 21 to December 30 last year, random sampling was conducted by computer, and the survey was successfully conducted by telephone. Interview 677 citizens over 18 years old who are working or looking for a job.
It was found that 21% of the respondents were asked to suspend work in the past six months, including suspension without pay, unpaid leave or salary reduction, which is lower than the 26.4% in the previous survey last March.
As for those who were asked to become self-employed during the same period, it dropped slightly from 9.2% in the previous survey to 9%, and both situations have improved.
With the easing of the epidemic and customs clearance with the mainland, the interviewed "wage earners" are less worried about salary cuts and company closures. 46% of respondents expressed concern about salary cuts, layoffs or company closures, an increase from the previous survey 54.9% of the respondents said they were not worried, a drop of 8.9 percentage points; 54% of the respondents said they were not worried, an increase of 8 percentage points.
However, the "wage earners" interviewed did not dare to place high hopes on the salary survey. 52% of the respondents expected a salary freeze this year, 20% even expected a salary cut, and only 28% said they expected a salary increase.
The number of respondents who said they were unemployed for more than half a year rose to 81%, far higher than the 58.7% in the previous survey, and 75% said they had no confidence in finding a new job within three months, reflecting that finding a job is still difficult.
Advocate optimization of the Working Family Allowance Scheme to include underemployment assistance
The Democratic Alliance for the Betterment of Hong Kong, which is in charge of the survey, suggested that the authorities optimize the Working Family Allowance Scheme, include the Underemployment Assistance Allowance, increase childcare facilities and places, encourage housewives to return to the workplace, and strengthen support for young people who have just graduated, the elderly, women or newcomers to Hong Kong. Support for "marginal workers" such as professionals, increase the continuing education fund to 30,000 yuan, and increase workplace skills and courses related to the latest digital knowledge.
Ngan Man-yu, member of the Legislative Council of the DAB, pointed out that as society returns to normal, different industries are facing the problem of "shortage of manpower", especially grassroots industries such as catering, cleaning, construction, and transportation. Employers even need to recruit for a long time. Temporary work to replace.
But on the other hand, there are still a considerable number of citizens who are unemployed or unable to return to the industries they worked in before the epidemic. The government has the responsibility to do a good job in human resource projections and make appropriate plans in response to the situation. Manpower supply and demand, formulate short-, medium-, and long-term manpower development policies to ensure sufficient labor supply, and formulate a "manpower supply shortage" list to plan which industries should introduce talents and which should strengthen local training.
Government: Unemployment rate fell to 3.5% in December, and the labor market is expected to continue to improve in the short term. The latest unemployment rate fell to 3.7%, a record low in the past three years.
That is to see how much your industry will add. There are industries that want to cut wages less than 6%
