The Hong Kong Government recently announced plans to allocate HK$1 billion for the training and recruitment of construction industry workers. The aim is to increase the number of training places to meet manpower needs of the booming infrastructure projects planned for Hong Kong in the coming years (including the Northern Metropolis and Lantau Tomorrow Vision projects). Details of the scheme were cited on the official blog post of Michael Wong, Secretary for Development as follows:
- The Government has been actively investing resources in infrastructure projects, including land construction, public housing, medical care, flood control, transportation construction, etc., to improve the living environment of citizens and promote economic growth. Together with the private market, the overall construction volume of the construction industry is expected to increase to the level of HK$300 billion per year.
- With more projects being carried out, the construction industry has had a strong demand for manpower, especially skilled workers. To this end, the Government proposes to allocate HK$1 billion to support the Construction Industry Council to further strengthen manpower training in the construction industry, train more new blood to join the construction industry and improve the technical level of current employees.
- The proposed measures are mainly divided into three areas:
- First, the Government will increase the number of places and allowances for the Council to train job-transferees to become semi-skilled workers for the types of jobs that will have a high demand for manpower in the future, so as to attract more new recruits.
- Second, increase the number of places and subsidies for the Council’s “Professional Training Scheme” and “Skill Upgrading Courses” to help semi-skilled workers, who are currently employed and who have recently completed training, to upgrade their skills to the level of skilled workers. The promotion ladder is aimed at better attracting and retaining talent.
- Third, assist the Council to strengthen the promotion of professional skills and development opportunities in the industry, and attract more newcomers to the construction industry, especially young people.
It is anticipated that the above measures could boost the number of semi-skilled site personnel by 20,000 and the number of skilled site personnel by 6,800.
For further information, please contact:
Joseph Chung, Partner, Deacons
joseph.chung@deacons.com.hk
