Summary
In her speech, Ms. Ho stated that population challenges which Hong Kong is facing in the next 30 years can be summarized into four aspects.
- Rapid growth in elderly population. By 2041, nearly one third of Hong Kong’s population will be aged 65 or above.
- With the retirement of the baby boomer generation in the future, there will be more people retiring than entering the labor force.
- As our population ages, the declining number of working age people will have to support an increasing number of dependants.
- Birth rate is still expected to remain at a low level, while Hong Kong’s future population growth will continue to be driven by new arrivals from the Mainland.
In the face of the above challenges, Ms. Ho suggested 5 ways to improve local talents’ quantity and quality, including: increase labor force by encouraging housewives and early retired people going back to the labor market; enhance the quality of the labor force by improving education and training and minimizing skills mismatch; build up our human capital with a more proactive policy and in a targeted approach to attract more talent from overseas and the Mainland; encourage young couples to have children, with measures such as subsidized child care services and paid parental leave; tap the valuable pool of elderly resources to create new impetus to the economic and social development through building an age-friendly environment.
At the end of the speech, Ms. Ho reaffirmed that Population policy is a wide-ranging subject and is heavily entwined with many aspects of public policies; therefore, the government needs public participation and wisdom to help tackle these challenges together.
PresentationSDA Dinner Talk
Date︰
12 February 2014
Speaker︰
Ms. Ho Pui Ling, Doris, Head of Policy & Project Co-ordination Unit, Chief Secretary for Administration’s Private Office
Topic of speech︰
Population Policy
Venue︰
Hong Kong University Alumni Association Clubhouse,
1/F, Yip Fung Building, 2 D’Aguilar Street, Hong Kong
