Cheung Pui-kong urges government to suspend labour importation for industries or posts with high unemployment | RTHK
The Labour Department implements new arrangements under the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) from tomorrow, including a tightened local-to-imported worker ratio for the catering industry and stronger administrative sanctions against seriously non-compliant employers, to further enhance deterrence.
Chung Pui-kong, DAB spokesman on manpower affairs and Legislative Council member, suggested the authorities suspend labour importation for industries or posts with high unemployment, and extend the "suspension period" for non-compliant employers from the current two years to three or four years to strengthen deterrence.
He also urged the government to launch the Labour Department's AI job-matching platform as soon as possible, using big data to register and verify recruitment information and prevent "fake recruitment" — for example, employers holding job fairs in remote areas so that distance discourages jobseekers from applying.
Regarding complaints that employers dismiss local staff after imported-worker approvals, Chung suggested smart supervision through tools such as MPF contribution records and surprise inspections: once a local employee's contributions drop abnormally, violating companies can be identified early.
Original article: https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/ch/component/k2/1858589-20260615.htm