Labor and Human Resource in Hong Kong

Abstract

Hong Kong has a predominantly Chinese population and a recent history as a British colony. Her labor and employment traditions reflect both Eastern and Western business influences. Private enterprises, encouraged and allowed to flourish in colonial times, were subjected to minimal state regulation and intervention. For many years there was full employment in Hong Kong and the labor market was open and flexible, with no minimum wages, standard work hours and collective bargaining between employers and worker representatives. The image of Hong Kong as a capitalist city with a thriving, free market economy and energetic people has won worldwide admiration. Weaknesses in Hong Kong's market-oriented, laissez-faire approach have been exposed by the ways in which employers in Hong Kong responded in the last decade to threats to the economy. Among the strategies adopted by employers are flexi working, casual hiring, pay cuts, short-term contracts, downsizing and workers' lay-offs. These measures have placed many workers in Hong Kong in the category of the “low paid” and have highlighted the fact that existing legislation about employment rights are deficient. This paper examines the delicate balance between “institutional permissiveness” and “legalism” and how this balance has been upset by economic downturns, especially since 1997 when the sovereignty of Hong Kong was returned by Great Britain to China. Downturns in the economy and the transfers of businesses from Hong Kong to the Mainland have had a serious impact on the Hong Kong labor market. Many jobs have been lost and job security and tenure arrangements have been damaged. Collaboration with the Mainland and the interchange of workers between Hong Kong and China have highlighted the need for Hong Kong to draw up legislature to safeguard the rights and benefits of workers. In addition, thought needs to be given to how Hong Kong is to retain its status as an independent commercial and business centre as it engages more and more with the giant Mainland whilst seeking to make Hong Kong goods and services competitive in the global market.