Blueprint to boost jobs for youths

Outdated HR practices

Ha, who is also convener of the Aero-Bridgehead Economy Employers Network - an employers' network to promote jobs on Lantau Island - added: "The human resource practices of most companies are outdated and need to be overhauled. Employers must make long-term investment in their staff."

Cally Chan Shan-shan, managing director of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Hong Kong and Macao, stressed that, besides beefing up human resources practices, company culture must be altered to make it more transparent and engaging.

"Companies should engage young workers more when communicating with them and this can facilitate greater participation in a company's operations by young workers," she said.

Chan, who is also chairperson of the Hong Kong Computer Society FACE Club, which aims to enhance female participation in the information technology (IT) industry, said females can have bright career prospects in this industry.

"As the IT industry evolves and the lifestyle element becomes more paramount, the business skills of adaption and communication are more treasured in the IT job market. If female staff can demonstrate the abilities of logical thinking to see the big picture, their chances of success in this industry are the same as men's."

Entrepreneurs' risks

Promoting the right perspective toward entrepreneurship is also necessary when society exhibits the wrong attitude toward entrepreneurship as an upward social ladder.

"In Hong Kong, entrepreneurship is widely portrayed as an adventure to pursue happiness in life, rather than entrepreneurs having genuine real goods and services to offer society. Entrepreneurship is not suitable for everyone and entrepreneurs should be fully aware of the associated risks in starting their own businesses," Lau warned.

Rono Kwong Hoi-cheung, chairman of the Hong Kong General Chamber of Young Entrepreneurs, told the conference: "It's commitment that young people should foster if they want to become entrepreneurs. They must be passionate about and believe in what they have done - that they can exert an impact on the industry and Hong Kong's economy."

"We make our routine jobs to become project-based jobs to entice job satisfaction. We constantly give work challenges to our young employees to stimulate their commitment to solve problems, hence giving them a sense that they own the company in due course," said Kwong, who is the founder and creative director of Best Video - a local media production company.

Last, but not least, the government should further diversify its economic base to identify certain strategic industries with high potential for labor recruitment.

The IT sector is seen as one of the city's future growth engines in labor recruitment. Last year, the pool of IT workers in Hong Kong ballooned to more than 87,000 - up more than 30 percent over 2008. The ratio of IT workers earning between HK$600,001 and HK$1.08 million annually had swelled from 4.7 percent in 2012 to 9.1 percent in 2014.

According to Invest Hong Kong - the government agency tasked with promoting overseas direct investment in the SAR - there were more than 1,926 startups in the technology sector last year - an increase of 24 percent, compared with a year ago.

Tourism sector's role

The Working Group on Convention and Exhibition Industries and Tourism has identified meetings, incentives, conferences and events (MICE) as the high-end segment of the tourism industry that can offer better employment prospects. Labor demand in areas like business planning, event planning, facilities management and engineering technology will be robust.

"Online travel, MICE, cruise tourism, as well as in-depth travel, will be the four main pillars of growth in the tourism industry," predicted Lanny Leung Kong-lan, director and chief executive officer at Hong Kong Wing On Travel Service - one of the city's major outbound tourist service providers.

"We have started a comprehensive staff training program, introduced a staff stock option scheme, and made job promotions and salary hikes linked to job performance to get employees to remain in our company. Our staff turnover rate is less than 5 percent," Leung said.

"In retrospect, the government, employers, academics and even parents and secondary school principals should join hands to change the situation," HKMA Executive Director Victor Lee Sze-kuen concluded.

Contact the writer at oswald@chinadailyhk.com