The Construction Industry Council (CIC) released the latest "Construction Industry Manpower Forecast Report" today (8th). It is estimated that the total construction volume in Hong Kong will reach an annual level of more than 300 billion yuan in the future. However, there is a shortage of manpower in Hong Kong's construction industry. Councilor Yan Wenyu proposed three policies, including optimizing the "hire first, then train" model to increase the supply of manpower in the construction industry.
A spokesman for the Development Bureau said that the authorities are working with the industry to implement the Hong Kong Construction Industry Promotion Program to promote the industry's professional image, development opportunities and contribution to social construction.
Yan Wenyu.
(File photo/Photo by Zhang Haowei)
Huge amount of projects, manpower shortage continues to worsen
The Council released the latest "Manpower Forecast for the Construction Industry" today. It is estimated that the total construction volume (including public and private construction volume) of Hong Kong's construction industry in the future will reach an annual level of more than 300 billion yuan.
Based on this project volume forecast, the Council expects that the difference between the supply and demand of professionals, technicians and workers in the construction industry will be about 5 to 15% in 2023, and about 15 to 20% in 2027.
Among them, the gap between supply and demand of skilled workers will increase from about 10,000 in 2023 to about 40,000 in 2027.
The difference between the supply and demand of construction site technicians and supervisors will increase from about 3,500 in 2023 to about 8,500 in 2027, and the difference between the supply and demand of professionals will increase from about 4,000 in 2023 to about 6,500 in 2027. Up to 55,000 people.
Yan Wenyu expressed "extreme concern" about the shortage of manpower in the construction industry.
He pointed out that in the future, large-scale infrastructure projects in Hong Kong will be launched one after another, and the construction industry will have an aging workforce and fault problems will become more and more serious. He is worried that if the situation continues, it will not only increase the construction and operating costs of the industry, but also increase the construction cost in a disguised form, and even lead to the industry collective at any time. Project delays will even cause social wear and tear, affecting the overall productivity of Hong Kong and slowing down Hong Kong's development.
He urged the government to adopt a "multi-pronged approach" to increase the manpower supply of the industry, including optimizing the "hire first, train later" model, hire trainees to receive training on the construction site, so that they can gain construction site experience as soon as possible; introduce "newcomers into the industry" We will attract and encourage people of different age groups and backgrounds to join the industry through measures such as "recommended entry" bonuses; we will set up community recruitment stations or hold recruitment days to attract and encourage more young people, unemployed people, and job-changers to join the construction industry. The industry absorbs new blood.
The shortage of workers in the construction industry in Hong Kong continues to worsen.
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Yan Wenyu: First ensure local employment and then consider importing foreign workers
The outside world often puts forward suggestions to alleviate the shortage of local labor by importing foreign labor. Yan Wenyu believes that the government can explore the mechanism of relaxing the import of foreign labor in the construction industry on the premise of ensuring that local employment is given priority, including streamlining the application process and shortening the approval time. In order to ensure that the industry has sufficient manpower supply, and do a good job in related interpretation work.
Development Bureau: It is expected to hand over the manpower strategy assessment before the middle of this year
The Development Bureau stated that it will refer to the forecast data to evaluate how to strengthen manpower supply through a multi-pronged strategy, including making good use of local human resources, strengthening training, and introducing non-local resources as needed, as well as taking advantage of productivity-enhancing measures. Measures to reduce manpower requirements.
The Bureau's goal is to hand over the assessment by the middle of this year or before, and propose a comprehensive strategy to deal with the manpower needs of the construction industry.
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