Following is a question by the Hon Kwok Wai-keung and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan, in the Legislative Council today (March 25):
Question:
It has been reported that the Secretary for Labour and Welfare has recently indicated that there is a shortfall of 10 000 to 15 000 technical workers in the construction industry in Hong Kong each year at present. Regarding the shortage of technical personnel engaged in the electrical and mechanical works under the construction industry in Hong Kong, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the criteria based on which the authorities have arrived at the aforesaid figures;
(2) of the respective shortfalls in (i)　professional/technologist, (ii) technician, (iii) tradesman/craftsman, and (iv) semi-skilled worker/general worker engaged in the various trades of the electrical and mechanical works under the construction industry in each of the past five years (set out in the table below); if the authorities cannot provide such figures, of the reasons for that, and whether they will consider conducting expeditiously a survey on such shortfalls;
Technical
Personnel/
Trade (i) (ii) (iii) (iv)
---------- --- ---- ----- ----
Plumbing
Air-conditioning
and refrigeration
Vehicle
Fire services
Gas
Electronic equipment
Lift and escalator
Electrical equipment
Mechanical equipment
Water supply
Gas supply
Electricity supply
Transport
Railway
Others
(3) whether it knows the institutions which organised training courses for personnel in the trades listed in (2) in each of the past five years, as well as the titles, durations of study and numbers of graduates of such courses; and
(4) whether it will formulate new measures to boost the supply of local technical personnel in the electrical and mechanical works of the construction industry and enhance their levels of skills; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
Since 2013, the Government has worked with the Construction Industry Council (CIC) to assess the overall construction expenditure of both public and private sector works as well as the supply and demand of construction workers over a 10-year horizon. According to the latest report on manpower forecast for construction workers released by CIC in October 2014, there will be a shortage of about 10 000 to 15 000 skilled workers in the construction industry in the coming years, which also has been cited above by the Secretary for Labour and Welfare.
My reply to the four parts of Hon Kwok's question is as follows:
(1) With regard to the above-mentioned forecast of the supply and demand of construction workers, CIC collects relevant data from the industry and the relevant government departments. It has formed a task force, comprising representatives of the relevant trade associations, labour unions, professional institutes, the Development Bureau and the Census and Statistics Department to formulate the projection methodology, and to discuss and endorse the results of the forecast. The manpower forecast has taken into account the latest forecast construction expenditure of public and private sectors, the number of in-service workers and their age distribution, and training and other relevant factors. CIC will regularly update the manpower forecasts and release the results.
(2) Apart from the construction-related trades, manpower resources of the electrical and mechanical industry are also engaged in other industries, such as shipbuilding and ship repair industry and gas industry. With regard to the manpower forecast mentioned in part 1 of the reply, it is difficult to provide the data on shortage of electrical and mechanical workers in the construction industry specifically since the distribution of electrical and mechanical workers in the construction industry and other industries has not been fully grasped. That said, the Vocational Training Council (VTC) has been conducting biennial manpower surveys to gauge the job vacancies in various trades through interviews with employers in the electrical and mechanical industry. According to VTC's 2011 Manpower Survey Report on Electrical and Mechanical Services Industry, the job vacancies of the relevant trades are set out as Annex 1.
According to the VTC's 2013 Manpower Survey Report on Electrical and Mechanical Services Industry, the job vacancies as reported by employers are set out as Annex 2.
(3) Please refer to the Appendix for the course titles, course durations and numbers of graduates of full-time training courses for the electrical and mechanical engineering trades related to the construction industry organised by the education institutions funded through the University Grants Committee, VTC, the Employees Retraining Board, CIC, and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department in the past five years.
(4) The Government will continue to enhance the skill levels of local electrical and mechanical technical personnel in the construction industry and uplift the image of the industry through training and enhancing publicity to attract more young people to the industry.
With regard to the training for technical personnel, VTC has launched the Pilot Training and Support Scheme (the Pilot Scheme) since the 2014/15 academic year to attract more young people to join the industries with a keen demand for labour, including the relevant electrical and mechanical trades in the construction industry. Under the Pilot Scheme, apprenticeship training for targeted industries will be provided to trainees alongside incentive allowances from the industries and the Government as well as a level of salary guaranteed by the industries. The Pilot Scheme will benefit a total of 2 000 trainees.
On the other hand, since the 2013/14 academic year, CIC has subsidised trainees to attend the first study year of the Diploma in Vocational Education (Craftsmen) course run by VTC for the relevant electrical and mechanical trades in the construction industry. Furthermore, as a new initiative, CIC will subsidise about 400 trainees to join the VTC's Diploma in Vocational Education (Technician) course in the 2015/16 academic year in order to attract more trainees who have completed senior secondary education or equivalent to enrol in these technician courses.
Moreover, the industry has set up a Working Group for the Promotion of Electrical and Mechanical Industry in Hong Kong to promote the electrical and mechanical industry. In 2014, the above-mentioned working group rolled out 13 roving exhibitions and large scale publicity events in secondary schools and other venues, including the TV series entitled "Engineering, Life and Dream". As for 2015, the Working Group has scheduled 23 roving exhibitions to publicise the electrical and mechanical services industry to young people. Furthermore, its member organisations, labour unions and trade associations will also collaborate in the promotional activities. The new publicity initiatives in the pipeline include a competition of microfilm on life pieces of the electrical and mechanical industry, fun day for electrical and mechanical personnel, etc.
Attachments:
Ends/Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Issued at HKT 17:55
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