A third-quarter employment outlook survey by ManpowerGroup found Hong Kong’s net employment outlook had fallen to minus 9%, down 20 percentage points from the previous quarter.
The data measures the difference between the share of employers planning to hire and those intending to reduce headcount.
The survey also ranked Hong Kong’s hiring outlook as the second weakest among 42 countries and regions.
The health and social services sector posted the weakest outlook at minus 47%, followed by professional, scientific and technical services at minus 29%. The finance and insurance sector remained positive at 33%.
Young people walk on Sai Yeung Choi South Street in Mongkok. Photo by NurPhoto via AFP |
Lam Wai-kong, an employee representative on the Labour Advisory Board, said employers’ increasing focus on immediate productivity, combined with a reluctance to invest in graduate training, had prompted some companies to hire imported workers instead of local young talent for technical positions, as reported by the South China Morning Post.
He warned the trend could create a lasting shortage of mid-level local professionals.
“One question is whether the ladder for upward mobility will be cut off midway,” Lam said. “The second is the concern about [the breakdown in] the transmission of experience.”
Lam, who also represents the labor sector in the legislature, added that as the Northern Metropolis develops, mainland Chinese and international technology firms establishing operations there could likewise overlook local graduates unless the government imposed stricter local hiring requirements tied to land grants and tax incentives.
A report released by the Legislative Council Secretariat in mid-May found that job vacancies listed on the Joint Institution Job Information System, an online platform operated by Hong Kong’s eight publicly funded universities, had dropped 51.5% since 2021, largely due to a 76.7% decline in information and communications openings.
Concerns about AI taking over jobs have been raised before. 59% of graduates still see AI and automation as barriers to landing their desired role, down from 67% in 2025, according to the 2026 CFA Institute Graduate Outlook Survey.
Lawmaker Elvin Lee Ka-kui said the structural changes were steadily eliminating traditional entry points for young workers.
“The deeper concern behind this trend is that if graduates find it harder to gain suitable first-job experience, it will eventually leave enterprises lacking mid-level talent with practical experience,” said Lee, who also chairs the Hong Kong Publishing Federation.
Lee said the government should consider providing long-term wage subsidies or tax incentives to employers willing to convert conventional junior positions into structured training roles, effectively sharing the cost of entry-level employment.
Government figures showed private-sector vacancies fell 12% year over year to 48,610 in March. Openings for clerical support workers declined 21% to 3,910, while vacancies for professional roles dropped 16%.
Roy Ying, senior lecturer in marketing at Hang Seng University and co-chairman of advocacy and policy at the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management, said the Joint University Programmes Admissions System required students as young as 17 to make life-defining academic choices under pressure from parents and peers, as quoted by the South China Morning Post.
Many students therefore became disengaged, focusing on earning a degree rather than developing technical skills, he added.
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