1.5% of Hong Kong civil servants are disabled, lawmakers call for more hires

Unemployment rate for people with disabilities was 11 per cent in 2020, compared with 5.8 per cent citywide

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The Civil Service College in North Point. Lawmakers have called for the government to hire more disabled workers. May Tse

Published: 6:37pm, 18 Nov 2024Updated: 9:44pm, 18 Nov 2024

Hong Kong lawmakers have urged the government to hire more disabled workers and impose key performance indicators to ensure the target is met after authorities revealed such employees made up 1.5 per cent of civil servants.

The Labour and Welfare Bureau revealed in a Legislative Council panel meeting on Monday that 2,513 serving civil servants with disabilities were employed by the government as of March. The civil service has a workforce of about 173,000.

Government data shows a falling trend in the proportion of disabled workers in the civil service, with the rate dropping from 2.1 per cent in 2014 to 1.6 per cent in 2019 and 1.5 per cent now.

According to latest figures released by the bureau, the unemployment rate for people with disabilities was 11 per cent in 2020, higher than the citywide rate of 5.8 per cent that year.

Lawmaker Tik Chi-yuen urged the government to set a KPI for ensuring a proportion of its hires were people with disabilities, possibly 3 per cent, and suggested that a law be enacted enshrining a quota.

“The government and the companies that receive government subsidies should all set KPIs for hiring workers with disabilities,” he said, adding the goal for the businesses could be set at 2 per cent of their total headcount.

He cited South Korea as an example, saying disabled workers accounted for 3 per cent of the country’s civil service.