Labour chief defends worker import scheme despite Hongkongers’ job loss claims

Hong Kong’s labour minister has rejected calls to halt the importation of foreign workers amid a manpower shortage across various sectors, despite authorities discovering preliminary evidence in two cases of employers dismissing local employees after bringing in overseas staff.

Secretary for Labour and Welfare Chris Sun Yuk-han on Sunday reiterated that the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme, which covers positions such as waiters and salespeople, prioritises local workers. He added that employers are only permitted to import staff if they are unable to hire a local candidate after a four-week recruitment exercise.

“We are looking into whether any employers laid off local workers after hiring imported labourers and have identified two cases where preliminary evidence suggests this might have occurred,” Sun said on a television programme, adding due process must be followed, allowing them time to appeal.

“We have received over a hundred complaints and most of them are unsubstantiated.”

The minister also said there was an ongoing investigation into a case where a local candidate expressed interest in and qualified for a role during the four-week recruitment period but was not hired.

“In such instances, we contact the employer for an explanation. If it seems the employer was not genuinely committed to local recruitment, this is considered significant evidence. We then place them on a monitoring list and suspend all their current applications,” he added.