Imported labour | Housing-fee deduction cap relaxed to 20% of wages — catering industry fears it will dent workers' willingness to come | i-CABLE
[i-CABLE News] Updated requirements under the Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme (ESLS) take effect today, tightening the local-to-imported worker ratio in the catering industry to three-to-one. Labour Department Commissioner Tak-sum Hui said the measures retain flexibility, and that calculating on the basis of the whole kitchen reflects the mismatch between worker skills and market demand.
Under the new requirements, the ratio of local workers to imported workers in catering kitchens and front-of-house changes from 2:1 to 3:1. Commissioner Hui explained that the new rules leave employers room to manoeuvre: catering's elevated unemployment is not caused by imported workers but by structural change in the industry. "Newly opened premises are smaller, usually not the traditional type of restaurant; kitchen structures are simpler, ingredients and processes are standardised, and the skills needed differ from what traditional master chefs have always done. Under the previous measure, when catering hired junior cooks the ratio was 2:1 — but we used the junior-cook post as the calculation base. Now the base is the total headcount of the whole kitchen production department, which we hope will help matching."
The scheme also relaxes the cap on housing-fee deductions from imported workers' wages to 20%. The catering industry believes this will further reduce workers' willingness to come to Hong Kong. Leung Chun-wah, chairman of the Hong Kong Catering Management Association: "They already come at the median wage. If we then deduct 20% for housing, their effective take-home pay drops. Their willingness to come falls — they're caught on both ends."
He added that the catering industry needs at least 300,000 employees but the active workforce is only 210,000–220,000, and the new requirements tighten the import ratio again. The impact will be greatest on employers about to apply for renewal.
Source: https://www.i-cable.com/新聞資訊/474967/