Adam Au

Opinion | Why job creation won’t solve Hong Kong’s unemployment problem

The underlying issue in youth employment, exposed and exacerbated by the pandemic, is the mismatch between what the economy needs and what the education system is producing

The government must go beyond its Band-Aid solution of creating temporary jobs to address this mismatch, by helping graduates learn new skills and adapt quicker to change

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Hong Kong’s New World Group organised a job fair on March 13. The pandemic has taken a toll on local employment, with the jobless rate for the three months to February this year rising to 7.2 per cent – a 17-year high. Photo: Felix Wong

Adam Au

Published: 6:45am, 22 Apr 2021Updated: 6:45am, 22 Apr 2021

Rising unemployment has been roiling Hong Kong’s economy since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Recently, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung revealed that about 35,500 young people were jobless between December last year and February this year, including 10,400 fresh graduates. The overall unemployment rate for this period rose to 7.2 per cent – a 17-year high.

Sadly, there is nothing to indicate that this rate will drop any time soon.

As part of its pandemic relief measures, the government had created 31,000 short-term jobs as of last December. A cursory glance at its recruitment website suggests that many of the current available jobs do not require a degree. This shows a mismatch between university graduates and jobs, and calls for a deeper examination of the actual returns of schooling.

How did this happen? In 2010, around the time when our most recent graduates entered secondary school, the internet economy in China was still in its nascent stage. Since then, the world has taken multiple strides, with the new economy and big tech leading the way.

During this transition, most graduates were ensconced in various bricks-and-mortar educational institutions. When they left school last year, they found themselves facing the worst employment landscape since 2003.

Amid the job cuts and business shutdowns, Hong Kong’s young people have also had to navigate relentless technological disruptions. A chasm has opened up between the accelerating pace of change and the ability of our graduates – and our governing systems – to adapt to such change.