Hong Kong graduates face declining job prospects, salaries

Hong Kong graduates face declining job prospects, salaries
By Wei Du  Posted 24 Jul 2016 17:00 Updated 24 Jul 2016 17:41

HONG KONG: With only a few weeks left on campus, Ms Chloe Hui looked visibly worried.

Clutching a handful of resumes, she went booth to booth at a job fair, talking to any interviewer who would give her a few minutes.

The English major at the Chinese University of Hong Kong has been applying for jobs since December. She has managed to get some interviews, but not a single offer just yet.

“It's much more difficult than I thought,” she told Channel NewsAsia.

Like many graduates in Hong Kong, Ms Hui is the first person in her family to go to university. That used to be a great source of pride for her parents, but now she has been forced to pare back expectations and look for jobs that do not necessarily require a higher degree.

“Like for HR assistants, they don't really need university graduates but I am still applying for it,” she said. “I don't have many choices I think.”

For some others, any permanent job would be good. Mr Benjamin Lam graduated from the prestigious Hong Kong University three years ago with a degree in Risk Management, but has been doing a series of odd jobs ever since.

“Sometimes I feel discouraged,” Mr Lam said. “I think I can support myself, but I can't see any good prospect for a luxury life.”

He is hardly alone. According to one study by the New Forum, graduates’ medium starting salary in Hong Kong declined 20 per cent between 1993 and 2013 when inflation is taken into account. If they want to buy an apartment, the picture is even more dire. When adjusted for the city’s soaring housing prices, graduates’ now make 60 per cent lower than those 20 years ago.

“I feel bad for the young people these days,” said Mr Edward Chen, a Council member at Hong Kong University. “In the old days it's a straight forward path. If you were a university graduate, you were guaranteed a place in the middle class. But today, no.”

DIMMING ECONOMIC PROSPECTS

A series of social unrests have rocked Hong Kong in recent years. The peaceful Umbrella Movement in 2014, led by university students, shut down the city center for months. Earlier in 2016, a riot broke out in Mongkok. Largely young protestors set cars on fire and hurled bricks at police.

The events have often been linked to Hong Kong’s lack of progress towards democracy, but educators like Mr Chen say dimming economic prospects for the city's youths may also be a key reason.

"We have a large group of frustrated young people, university graduates many of them. It's very easy to persuade them that society is not doing justice to them, and to some extent it might be true."

To be sure, Hong Kong youths are not alone in feeling a sense of hopelessness. Economic stagnation has plagued developed economies around the world. But in Hong Kong, their problems were made worse by what some experts call misguided government policy.

After the Dotcom crash in 2001, Hong Kong’s economy was again hit by the SARS outbreak in 2003. The city’s unemployment rate roared past 8 per cent, putting enormous pressure on the government of Tung Chee-Hwa, the city’s first Chief Executive.

To slow the pace of young people entering the workforce, the government boosted university enrolment rate from 20 per cent to 60 per cent. But unlike a previous round of expansion, the additional slots did not come from the established, taxpayer-funded universities. Instead, a crop of new private schools filled the gap.

Without government funding and unable to charge higher tuitions, Mr Chen said these universities have not been able to match the quality of the city’s eight publicly-funded schools.

“First there are just too many university graduates. Secondly, a large number of the students cannot meet employers’ expectations.”

LOOK BEYOND HONG KONG?

At the same time, skilled jobs started moving across the border. Even in Hong Kong, many multinationals began hiring mainland Chinese graduates, because they speak better Mandarin and have more in common with mainland clients.

Facing a new reality, some people say Hong Kong’s youths need to look beyond the city in their job hunts.

Mr Paul Mak, President of Hong Kong Shanghai Youth Association, has been trying to get local graduates to work in Shanghai, but that has not proved easy.

“A lot of Hong Kong young people don't consider that especially when it's their first jobs,” he said.

Salaries are usually the first barrier. The starting pay in mainland China is still lower, although Mr Mak said promotions happen faster there, so the pay would eventually catch up.

That said, the cost of relocation is hefty, and Hong Kong graduates would have to rent a place to stay in Shanghai while they can live with their parents in Hong Kong. That means the option is often only available to graduates from wealthy families.

- CNA/sk



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