Hong Kong construction industry workers are set to cash in on two big jackpots this week.

On Wednesday, the construction industry announced wage increases for specific jobs ranging from 5 percent to 13 percent.

The news came a day after the ruling by the Court of Appeal that gave the go-ahead for 13,000 workers to get back to their jobs building the Hong Kong-Macao-Zhuhai (HKMZ) Bridge. Work is to resume by the end of this year.

The announcement of the pay increases came after three months of negotiation between contractors and representatives for the workers.

Fueling the big payday is a scarcity of manpower in the industry.

Construction companies said the big increases are aimed at drawing younger workers into the construction trades.

"The market is getting better and better, though we are experiencing a severe shortage of hands," said Chow Luen-kiu, chairman of the Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union.

The resumption of the work on the bridge immediately secured 13,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, "the (court's) ruling opens up working opportunities, including the 70 construction sites that could have affected were the lower court ruling upheld," said Chow.

Chow said, had the government lost the case, approximately another 200,000 workers would have been thrown out of work at construction sites that would have been forced to shut down.

According to Chow, the bar bending and fixing industry is short 2,000 workers now.

Ku Yuet-kan, chairman of the Hong Kong Formwork Contractors Association Limited, said the resumption of the bridge construction will demand more laborers in that industry, although there is already a manpower shortage in the field, expected to be between 2,000 and 3,000 workers in the coming two years.

The pay raise, one of several measures intended to address the increasing demand for workers, has created some hope in the construction industry that the higher rates of pay will bring an injection of youth into the rapidly aging workforce.

The formwork industry has been granted a three-stage salary increase, which will see daily wages increase to HK$1,500 by July, 2013.

The increases, slated to come into effect in November, have already drawn more than 600 people to sign up for a training course, according the union.

The bar bending and fixing industry expects a three-step salary increase, to bring daily rates up to HK$1,490 by August, 2013, said Chow.

"Though it is not yet revealed when the (HKMZ Bridge) project would be recommenced, there is no doubt the industry will be in desperate need of laborers," said Ku.

stushadow@chinadailyhk.com

China Daily

(HK Edition 09/29/2011 page1)