Government announces review results of Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme and enhanced measures
The Government announced today (June 15) the review findings and the enhanced measures of the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) upon completion of the ESLS implementation review.
ESLS
Facing the challenges of an ageing population and economic transformation, the local labour force is expected to continue to shrink, and the structural challenge of a manpower mismatch will persist in the short to medium term. Having holistically examined the implementation of the ESLS and considered the results of the Manpower Projection and views of stakeholders, the Government considers that on the premise of ensuring employment priority for local workers, employers with genuine recruitment difficulties and manpower shortages should be allowed to suitably import workers to support the social and economic development of Hong Kong. Therefore, in the overall interest of society, the ESLS should continue to be implemented under the current coverage.
Enhanced measures
To better protect employment priority for local workers and sustain the manpower supply to support social and economic developments, the Labour Department (LD) will implement the following enhanced measures under the ESLS with effect from tomorrow (June 16):
(i) The Government will implement a tiered vetting mechanism for labour importation after taking account of and analysing relevant factors and data, including the economic and labour market situation, the manpower supply and demand in individual sector(s) and post(s), the application and vetting situations of the ESLS and its operational experience, the proportion of imported workers to the employment population in relevant sectors and the views of stakeholders. Compared with the basic vetting requirements (Tier 1) including the manning ratio of 2:1 of full-time local employees to imported workers and a four-week local recruitment period, applications vetted under Tier 2 shall be subject to more stringent manning ratio and local open recruitment requirements, or other suitable sector-specific requirement(s).
(ii) Taking the latest situation as an example, the LD will include in the Tier 2 vetting mechanism posts in the food and beverage services sector including cook, junior cook, barbecue cook, drink maker and bar supervisor (collectively known as "posts in the production section"), as well as posts including waiter/waitress, restaurant supervisor, receptionist and cashier (collectively known as "posts in the table service section"). Employers will need to observe a more stringent manning ratio requirement of 3:1 when applying for imported workers of relevant posts, and the basis of calculating the manning ratio will change to all posts within the section. At the same time, the local recruitment period for all posts under application in these two sections will be aligned to six weeks and employers will be required to attend a job fair at a job centre assigned by the LD once every two weeks during the period.
(iii) With a view to promoting the employment of persons with disabilities, if employers employ local persons with disabilities to take up full-time jobs and apply for imported workers, the manning ratio of local employees with disabilities to imported workers will be calculated at 1:1.
(iv) Applicant employers of the ESLS must accord priority to employing qualified local workers to fill job vacancies at a salary not lower than the median monthly wage of a comparable position in the market. Employers approved to import workers must also enter into a Standard Employment Contract (SEC) with imported workers and pay a salary not lower than the median monthly wage of a comparable position. To prevent the imported workers from becoming "cheap labour" and undermining the employment opportunities of local workers, the LD will maintain the median monthly wage requirement, and continue to refine the arrangements for updating the median wage statistics to reflect the labour market situations.
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(v) On the premise of maintaining the median wage requirement, the Government will raise the ceiling of the amount deductible for the accommodation cost from 10 per cent to 20 per cent of the wages (excluding overtime pay) of imported workers, or the actual cost of accommodation, whichever is the less.
(vi) On the principle that the imported workers are directly employed by the same employers for taking up the specified posts and performing specified duties in accordance with the SEC, the LD will suitably relax the workplace restriction of imported workers, allowing employers to apply to arrange for imported workers to work at business locations in no more than five administrative districts listed in the District Councils Ordinance. Employers must provide vacancies of relevant posts in those designated districts during local recruitment under the ESLS for application by local job seekers.
(vii) The LD will strengthen administrative sanctions imposed on employers with serious breaches. For a case involving more than one breach item, the period of barring the employer from participating in the ESLS will be counted cumulatively, up to a maximum of five years. To strengthen deterrence, the LD will also publish the identity of all employers who have been subject to administrative sanctions.
Implementation arrangements
Except for measure (iv) which remains the same as the current arrangement, measures (i), (ii), (iii), (vi) and (vii) above will apply to applications with the notice of preliminary screening issued by the LD on or after June16; while applications with the previously issued notice of preliminary screening will continue to be processed according to the current vetting parameters. Measure (v) will apply to the signed SECs pursuant to the approvals-in-principle (AIPs) to import workers issued by the LD on or after June 16. Previously issued AIPs and existing employment contracts will not be affected.
The Government will continue to closely monitor the developments in the labour market, dynamically adjust the implementation arrangements of the ESLS and promptly respond to changes in labour market. Members of the public can browse the website of the ESLS (www.labour.gov.hk/eng/plan/iwESLS.htm) for details of the above enhanced measures.
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