Opinion | Youth indifference to finding jobs risks hurting labour force

Hong Kong has been grappling with an acute manpower shortfall fuelled by an ongoing brain drain. Adding to the challenge is a fast evolving economy and what appears to be growing apathy among some local youngsters who neither want to study nor find a job.

The authorities, to their credit, have already sought to replenish the shrinking workforce through labour importation and talent admission schemes. But officials also need to work harder to motivate the younger generation to work and provide more proactive job training and matching services in light of changing attitudes and lifestyles among some workers.

The challenges have been put into perspective in a survey by the Employers Retraining Board. More than a third of the younger respondents who were not working or studying had no intention of finding a job.

About half of all 1,261 interviewees, including retirees and homemakers, had expressed little interest in working. And even when the middle-aged ones were inclined to enter into employment, many were only looking for part-time jobs, according to the findings.

Given this is just a snapshot of the public mood when the survey was carried out between last November and March this year, more detailed analyses are needed to ascertain the underlying reasons and the impact on society.

But it does not bode well for labour supply as the capable ones have little interest or see a lack of incentives for them to come forward. This may well aggravate the labour shortage that has been holding back the post-Covid economic recovery.

Indeed, there are always those who simply like to be idle or “lay flat”. Such a trend had already become more noticeable on the mainland and in the region even before the onslaught of the coronavirus, even more so as the prolonged pandemic redefined social norms and lifestyle.

Analysts attributed the trend to society becoming more affluent and there being less pressure from parents and peers to pursue the conventional path of a good career and raising a family.

Be that as it may, the wider implications for social, economic and political development cannot be ignored when more people become socially and economically disengaged.

Gone are the days when carrots alone would attract the best and brightest in the workforce. In addition to good salaries and benefits, job incentives also come from flexible working hours as well as work-from-home or offshore arrangements.

Apart from offering training and matching skills in the labour market, the authorities and employers must better understand the changing needs and preferences of employees and jobseekers if the city is to make full use of its human capital for better development.