How Hong Kong can do more for job-seeking ethnic-minority residents, especially in civil service recruitment
- NGOs call for government support in assessing applicants on a case-management basis and to move away from labour-intensive jobs
- Labour Department called out for one-time service with no follow-up, like ‘going to a 7-Eleven’
It took four months of unemployment and countless setbacks before Tanveer Khan, 20, a Pakistani in Hong Kong, found a job as a mechanic for lifts and escalators.
The eldest of three siblings, Khan now hopes to build a career and become a foreman.
“It is interesting and a good job for me,” he said. “My parents are 100 per cent really happy that I’ve found this job.”
Khan is among the lucky few ethnic-minority residents who have landed a job in the city, amid a workforce participation rate of 64.5 per cent, excluding domestic helpers. According to a 2016 population by-census, there were 584,383 people from ethnic minority groups in Hong Kong, with domestic helpers accounting for half of the total.
Cheung Ang Siew-mei, executive director of Christian Action, an NGO, said it was difficult for people from ethnic minority groups in Hong Kong to get a job because of the difference in expectations between workers and employers.