HK students need a more international perspective and greater external exposure to be mobile enough to pursue careers globally. Oswald Chan and Pamela Lin report.

Hong Kong relishes its efficient, flexible workforce that provides a strong impetus for economic growth. Last year, the services sector employed 3.4 million people and accounted for 93 percent of the city's gross domestic product. Within the services sector, value added by trade and logistics, financial services, tourism and professional services accounted for nearly 60 percent GDP.

However, technological innovation has advanced rapidly in the past decade so Hong Kong earnestly needs new economic growth engines to diversify its economy. The city lags Asian peers in the technology and innovation sector. This lag, coupled with a lack of diversity in its industry structure, has frustrated upward mobility for youngsters in the city in recent years.

Hong Kong's average economic growth rate in the past decade was 3 to 3.4 percent, lower than the 6 percent registered by its "arch-rival" Singapore in the same period.

The slowing down of the city's traditional services industry has led to calls to urgently diversify its labor supply.

Between 2008 and 2015, managerial, administrative and professional jobs absorbed 38 percent of new workers with tertiary education background, lower than the 47 percent recorded between 1994 and 2001.

From 2008 to 2015, auxiliary professional jobs absorbed 33 percent of the new college graduates, lower than the 38 percent recorded between 2001 and 2008.

The need to diversify the city's labor supply will be more urgent as demographic factors mean the workforce size will soon reach its zenith. With an aging population, Hong Kong's working population is estimated to start shrinking from 2022.

A roundtable conference held on July 6 by all-rounded recruitment services media Recruit, and co-organized by China Daily Hong Kong Edition and the Hong Kong Management Association (HKMA), drew together government officials, academics and employers to exchange views on rolling out a blueprint for enhancing the international perspective of Hong Kong students.

B&R opportunities

Chief Secretary for Administration Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said that "four high-level steering group committees - the Commission on Children, Youth Development Commission, Steering Committee on Ethnic Minorities and the Human Resources Planning Commission - are all under my chairmanship so that strategic roadmaps can be provided on how to strengthen manpower planning in a holistic perspective".

In addition, the Belt and Road Initiative and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will give Hong Kong talents further opportunities. Unveiled by President Xi Jinping in 2013, the B&R Initiative embraces more than 60 economies across Asia, Europe and Africa which last year accounted for 65 percent of the world's population and 40 percent of global GDP. Between 2014 and 2016, the total value of trade between China and B&R countries totaled $3 trillion.

The Bay Area was officially included in the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) outline which was approved by the 12th National People's Congress in March 2016.

Comprising 11 cities in the Pearl River Delta - the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, as well as nine cities in Guangdong province, namely Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Dongguan, Zhuhai, Huizhou, Zhongshan, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing - the city cluster is home to nearly 68 million residents, boasting a nearly $1.4-trillion GDP, according to Deloitte data.

"We are leveraging our universities' research capability, the rule of law and intellectual property protection regime. Coupled with the capabilities of advanced manufacturing in the Bay Area, we aim to build Hong Kong and the Bay Area as an international innovation and technology hub," reiterated Cheung.

"The government has identified biotech, artificial intelligence, robotics and fintech as the four main niches that Hong Kong can develop in the segment of technology and innovation," the chief secretary added.

Despite the rosy prospects ahead, some employers complain that Hong Kong students are not mobile enough for career internationalization.

"Mainland students, compared to their peers in Hong Kong, cultivate an international perspective; their career vision is broader. For CLP Holdings, sometimes our business projects are situated in some quite remote areas that require job mobility of college graduates," reckoned Betty Yuen So Siu-mai, vice-chairman of CLP Power Hong Kong.

Fostering more cultural exchange programs is the first prescription for enhancing the international perspective of local students.

"Schools and universities could provide opportunities for the young generation to go out and know more about the world outside Hong Kong. The university is also trying to provide opportunities for local students to exchange ideas with mainland students through doing projects and services together," said Miranda Lou Lai-wah, executive vice-president at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

About 70,000 Hong Kong students will join summer internship and exchange programs each year, Cheung said. Around 50,000 primary and secondary students will have at least one chance to participate in summer cultural exchange programs on the mainland. Of these 50,000 students, 10 percent of the quota is reserved for the Bay Area region, he said.

Venturing to the mainland

Kelvin Wong Tin-yau, executive director and deputy managing director at COSCO Shipping Ports, says corporate visits promote understanding of the work culture of Hong Kong and the mainland.

"We are a mainland shipping enterprise which employs many Hong Kong staff. I think our company exhibits the cultural mix of the mainland and Hong Kong. I hope that, through summer internship programs, more local students can understand the business operation of the mainland's State-owned enterprises.

"We should encourage students venturing out to develop their careers abroad, and once they become tomorrow's business leaders, we should entice them to come back to Hong Kong to continue their career development," Wong noted.

In March, the Hong Kong government launched the "Pilot Scheme on Corporate Summer Internship on the Mainland and Overseas" to cultivate the international perspective of Hong Kong tertiary students through summer job internship experience. About 16 big enterprises from the mainland (including the Bay Area) and seven countries (including the B&R nations) have joined the pilot scheme and provided 250 internship places covering industries such as financial services, real estate, construction and utilities.

Secondly, the Hong Kong government can also help if it can sign more reciprocal recognition agreements of professional qualifications with foreign countries.

"There are also problems we need to work out especially the one we think the government can help to solve, the professional qualifications. Our professional qualifications cannot be recognized there so we hope our government could talk with governments in those places and come up with some agreements," suggested Carrie Leung Ka-lai, chief executive at the Hong Kong Institute of Bankers.

Leung added: "Hong Kong usually imports professional qualifications, like CPA (certified public accountant). Now I think it is time for us to export professional qualifications."

Thirdly, if students can cultivate a mindset of innovation that fosters acceptance of new things, and implementation that builds the capacity to commercialize innovation results, this will enhance career prospects.

Hong Kong and China Gas (Towngas), a listed utility, is diversifying from its traditional gas business into environmentally friendly water and biotech projects which demand research and development and innovation.

"Currently, the company has R&D plants in Shanghai to study how to convert agricultural waste into oil petroleum products. Since we want to patent our technologies, we hope we can relocate our R&D activities back to Hong Kong once the Lok Ma Chau Loop Hong Kong-Shenzhen Innovation and Technology Park commences operation," asserted Alfred Chan Wing-kin, managing director at Towngas.

"We currently have 20 business projects in the Bay Area and talents may be more willing to travel to this area for work because of its closer proximity to Hong Kong. We already require that our staff under the Graduate Trainee Program must be stationed on the mainland for work for at least half a year," Chan added.

The panelists also reached agreement that the Hong Kong government should also consider launching sustained promotion work as the fourth solution.

"I am wondering if we could capture any data showing which city has the most population of Hong Kong students who study abroad. Then we could set up associations there and bring students together to exchange information," Deloitte China Vice-Chairman Derek Lai Kar-yan reckoned.

The government is also exploring whether Hong Kong's chief officials can do more during their overseas business trips to encourage Hong Kong students studying overseas to come home to start their careers, Cheung said.

One promotion program is to encourage more students to take up jobs in sectors such as engineering and construction; parents often abhor such jobs.

"We have career opportunities and market. But what we are lacking is finding suitable talents to fill up the employment gap. I think what is important here is to find the right directions of encouraging more students to find their careers in the engineering sector," suggested Victor Lee Sze-kuen, executive director of the HKMA and the roundtable moderator.

Diversified options

Hong Kong Institution of Engineers' immediate past president Thomas Chan Kwok-cheung said: "The institute has established a task force to connect various local primary and secondary schools for promoting STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education to educate students, teachers and parents about the prospects for engineering jobs in the city."

Cheung said when the third-runway system commences operation at Hong Kong International Airport in 2024, the cargo-handling capacity can be doubled. It is estimated that 75,000 jobs, including aircraft engineering, will be created in the nearby airport area.

The government is also mulling various options to bolster the maritime services sector in Hong Kong. Legal and arbitration resolution services, as well as maritime brokerage services, will be in great demand.

Besides the engineering and construction sectors, the arts industry can provide another career ladder for youngsters.

Bosco Law Ching-kit, deputy chairman and chief executive officer at Lawsgroup, a family-controlled group whose economic interests range from apparel manufacturing and retail to property, said: "Hong Kong youths are talented in creative industries but there is no clear career path for youngsters to pursue their careers in this sector."

Kent Wong Siu-kee, managing director at Chow Tai Fook Jewellery Group, said: "As an employer, we must give opportunities to young interns. In our internship programs, we encourage young interns to share their experiences and listen to student interns giving recommendations on how to improve the business."

The Hong Kong-listed jewelry retailer is transforming itself into an innovative enterprise. The manufacturing process, supply-chain management, product certification and the retail process all require information technology and innovation input. The company currently employs 30,000 people, and 10,000 of them are in the Bay Area. The Bay Area contributes 40 percent of the company's revenue.

Vocational Training Council Chairman Roy Chung Chi-ping reckoned the business community should also play a vital part in boosting Hong Kong students' international perspective.

"Be realistic. You cannot expect Hong Kong youngsters to find jobs by their own dint in the Bay Area or B&R countries. Therefore, it is more important for Hong Kong enterprises stationed in these areas to recruit college graduates and send them to work in these regions," said Chung, who is also the co-founder and non-executive director of Techtronic Industries - a local listed manufacturing enterprise.

Contact the writers at oswald@chinadailyhk.com

(HK Edition 07/13/2018 page15)