Name: Lee Sin Ming Student ID: 09369162D ENGL 304 English for Administration Lecturer: Dr. Christina DeCoursey Assignment 3 Policy Paper
Executive Summary Hong Kong is an international city with good reputation of economic prosperity and political stability. Many ethnic minorities are attracted by the city for better employment opportunities. They encounter various kinds of difficulties in their daily life with great difference in culture here and their home countries. It is our responsibility to assist these new arrivals and maintain social harmony. In the latest Policy Address, our Chief Executive has announced the establishment of a dedicated team to help ethnic minorities integrate into our society. We are the team members and we would like to review the policies targeting the employment problems of local minorities. With reference to the current situation in Hong Kong, we recommend cooperation between the government and NGOs, establishment of recognizable Cantonese programs, more promotion on employment assistance information and training courses and civic education. The government is responsible to take an active role in encouraging social inclusion of ethnic minorities.
Statement of the Problem What policies are needed to assist ethnic minorities (EM) in employment in Hong Kong (HK)? Many of these new arrivals face a considerable amount of problems in adapting to the new environment. They usually find it difficult to obtain a job, which is essential for supporting their living in HK. The main reasons are likely to be language barrier, the lack of skills and the lack of access to assistance. To promote the image of HK as an international city with great cultural diversity and to maximize the contribution that EM brings to us, it is necessary for us to adopt policies facilitating their employment.
Background of the Problem According to the HK government, ‘ethnic minorities’ refers to persons of non-Chinese ethnicity. Based on the 2006 Population By-census Thematic Report on Ethnic Minorities, 342 198 EM were living in HK in July 2006. This accounted for 5% of HK’s total population and over 98% of them were Usual Residents of the city. They are part of our society and their needs should not be overlooked.
Among the EM in HK, Asians other than Chinese, such as Filipinos, Indonesians, Indians, Nepalese and Pakistanis, are often marginalized from the mainstream. These disadvantaged groups face more difficulties in employment than other races. The 2006 Population By-census Thematic Report on Ethnic Minorities revealed that, for instance, the majority of them (83.8%) engaged in elementary occupations while over 80% of ethnic Whites worked as administrators or professionals. As a result, they received lower salaries. Based on a research on the employment situation of South Asian people in HK done by the City University of Hong Kong and a non-governmental organization (NGO) Unison Hong Kong in 2003, about 60% of the
respondents were unemployed in the last two years and only 40% had a full-time job. Effective policies are necessary for improvement of the situation.
Organization’s interests In the 2010/11 Policy Address, Mr. Donald Tsang assigned our team, headed by the Permanent Secretary for Home Affairs Bureau, to manage supportive services and policies for local EM with respect to the Race Discrimination Ordinance. At the same time, the establishment of a Community Care Fund, founded jointly by the government and the business sector, was announced to subsidize non-recipients of the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme. With EM being one of its beneficiaries, we have to advice on the allocation of the fund. It is our aim to meet local disadvantaged minorities’ needs in various areas, including housing, education, medical services, and social welfare. In this paper, we pay our attention on policies relating to their employment situation.
Policy Options Based on the current situation in HK, some policy options for improving the working situation of local EM are suggested. A number of effective minority policies from Australia which is a country with more than 20% of its population being EM are used as reference in the following discussion.
1. Acquisition of Cantonese
Current situation: Language barrier is one of the major obstacles EM find in employment and social integration in HK. Only about half (52.5%) of them, most of who were domestic
helpers, could speak Cantonese as stated in the 2006 Population By-census Report. Cantonese courses are organized by a few institutions like the Vocational Training Council (VTC), but they are found too short (around 20 hours) to provide EM with adequate knowledge over the language.
New policy: In Australia, Adult Migrant English Program is launched to offer 510 hours of English Classes to new migrants and refugees, with a Certificate in Spoken and Written English given to those who complete the course. Similar programs should be organized by the HK government for local EM, helping them integrate into the society.
Advantages: A common language could facilitate the communication and cooperation between EM and local colleagues. EM could meet more job requirements, receive more employment assistance services, and perform better in job interviews. Their competitiveness would be greatly increased in the labour market.
Disadvantages: The government has to spend a large amount of resources to establish such language courses. Quality instructors and students completed the course with good command of Cantonese are essential to make the effectiveness of the program recognizable. The participation rate would not be satisfying unless the fee is low.
2.
Improve the employment assistance service and job training courses
Current situation: A research conducted by the City University of Hong Kong and Unison Hong Kong in 2003 discovered that 65% of the EM respondents had never used the services of the Labour Department. One of the reasons was that they could not communicate well with the Chinese-speaking staff. Meanwhile, several institutions, such as Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (IVE) and VTC, have been organizing job training for EM. Again, the participation rate is low since the courses are conducted in Chinese. To tackle this problem, interpreting service of over 77 languages and dialects are provided every day 24 hours in Australia. In 2005, a proposal on enhancing Interpretation support for EM in HK was carried out by the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, but little progress has been done on this topic.
New policy: Staff offering employment assistance services ought to have good command of English and the English version of relevant information should be available. At those centers with more EM visiting, staff with command of different South Asian languages would be helpful. A hotline in South Asian languages should be arranged to serve EM for employment assistance services. English should be the teaching medium for job training courses in EM classes held by different organizations.
Advantages: EM could gain access to the information and acquire working skills more easily in English.
Disadvantages: Recruitment of multi-language speaking staff and preparation of materials in English
cost the government and other institutions a lot. EM still face difficulties in workplace if they cannot master Cantonese well.
3. Education on labour rights
Current situation: It is common that EM are not familiar with the labour rights in Hong Kong. In the survey conducted by the City University of Hong Kong and Unison Hong Kong, many EM had wrong ideas for employment issues like severance payment, termination of employment contract, statutory holiday, sickness allowance and maternity leave. Over 20% of the respondents reported that the employer join the Mandatory Provident Fund scheme for them though they were required to. Another 23% of the respondents once were hurt in work place, but their employers did not report their cases to the Labour Department.
New policy: Pamphlets edited in multi-languages and talks should be arranged for EM to promote ideas of occupational health and safety and the Employment Ordinance. These could be organized with the help of schools or religious communities to gain the targeted groups’ attention.
Advantages: Through education, EM’s awareness of their labour rights could be aroused and thus avoid exploitation from employers.
Disadvantages: This increases the government’s expenditure and enforcement of the regulations is needed to go along with education.
4. Recognizing academic qualification in job hunting
Current situation: Most of EM in HK worked in low-skilled or elementary occupations, such as domestic helpers, construction workers and security guards. They are more excluded in the labour market as their academic qualifications obtained overseas are not recognized by local employers. According to the 2006 Population By-census Report, 70% of EM aged 15 or above had attended upper secondary or higher education.
New policy: By setting a regulation, employers are required to accept EM’s overseas academic qualifications as long as authentic certificates are provided.
Advantages: EM could diversify their occupations with regards to their education level. This helps enhancing their social mobility and with better-paid jobs, improving their social status and living standard.
Disadvantages: It is difficult to check the credibility of the overseas educational institutions that EM obtained their qualification. Standards in HK and those places maybe different,
affecting the reliability of the qualification.
5.
Implementation of minimum wage law
Current situation: According to the figures provided by the 2006 Population By-census Report, nearly 70% of the working EM were earning less than $4000 as their monthly income. This makes it difficult for EM to maintain a good living standard, especially if they have a family to support.
New policy: As mentioned in the latest Chief Executive’s Policy Address, the minimum wage law will be brought into practice in the coming financial year. EM should also be covered and have their salaries risen.
Advantages: EM could receive higher salaries to handle the high living expense in HK. This is also a symbol of equal status of EM and local Chinese, showing that EM are being treated fairly in HK.
Disadvantages: Similar to their Chinese counterparts, EM may face more unemployment due to the increase in wage. Some local employers may prefer a Chinese employee instead of EM with the same wage rate.
Recommendations
1. Cooperation with NGOs Many NGOs, such as Hong Kong Unison, Christian Action and Hong Kong Caritas, are well-developed organizations with the expertise and experience in serving EM. Cooperation between the government and NGOs could make the service more comprehensive and redundancy could be avoided with good coordination.
2. Setting up standard Cantonese courses with recognizable certificate The removal of language barrier would be an effective way to enhance the social integration of EM and their competitiveness in workplace. Standard assessment is essential to maintain the credibility of the courses.
3. More promotion on employment assistance information and training programs Sometimes, EM cannot seek help from the authorities as they have no information of the resources available. The materials of the government and social institutions should be written in multi-languages, such as Hindi, Urdu and Nepalese. The use of mass media together with reaching-out methods like exhibition shows, street enquiry services and home visits in areas that more EM live in to facilitate efficient delivery of information to the targeted groups.
4. The initiative role of the government Both ethnic Chinese and EM should be treated equally in every government policies. For example, both should be covered under the minimum wage law and the provision of monthly traffic allowances to low-income employees. The government should adopt reward schemes to praise employers with contribution in promoting racial
equality and protection of labour rights of EM. Tax allowance for employers of EM is an example.
5. Civic education Mutual respect and quality among different races should be promoted in the society. EM should be educated with their rights, encouraged to participate in community and voce out their needs and opinions.
References Consulted Hong Kong 2006 Population By-census Thematic Report on Ethnic Minorities (2007). Retrieved November 15, 2010 from The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Census and Statistics Department Web site: http://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200712/28/P200712280154_print.htm This is an official report of the profile of ethnic minorities: demographic characteristics, education, labour force, living arrangement and household characteristics, and geographical characteristics in Hong Kong, based on the results of the 2006 Population By-census.
Kam, P. K. (2003). Research Report on the Employment Situation of South Asian People in Hong Kong. Retrieved November 10, 2010 from Hong Kong Unison, Web site: http://www.unison.org.hk/R_Research.htm The research is conducted by the City University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Unison, a well-known NGO serving ethnic minorities. This report reveals the effectiveness of the existing employment assistance services for South Asian people in Hong Kong with their needs and expectations in employment.
Kam, P. K. (2004). Research Report on the Protection of Labour Rights among South Asian People in Hong Kong. Retrieved November 10, 2010 from Hong Kong Unison, Web site: http://www.unison.org.hk/R_Research.htm The research is conducted by the City University of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Unison, a well-known NGO serving ethnic minorities. This is a research report explores South-Asian people’s attitude towards their labour rights and their access to the information of the labour ordinances.
Language Training for Ethnic Minorities in Hong Kong (2004). Retrieved November 17, 2010 from The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, The Home Affairs Bureau Web site: http://www.cmab.gov.hk/rru/english/aboutus/Ethnicforum/Ethnicforum20040 427paper2.doc This paper reviews the language training programme, organized jointly by the government and 3 NGOs, for ethnic minorities in Hong Kong in 2003-04 and makes suggestions for future development.
Vocational Education & Training for Ethnic Minorities (2006). Retrieved November 28, 2010 from the Vocational Training Council, Web site: http://www.vtc.edu.hk/vtc/web/template/link.jsp?fldr_id=2692 This website provides details of job training courses available to ethnic minorities in Hong Kong provided by the VTC, a well-established organization offering recognizable vocational education and training.
2010-11 Policy Address:Sharing Prosperity for a Caring Society (2010). Retrieved November 9, 2010 from The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Web site: http://www.policyaddress.gov.hk/10-11/eng/ This is the latest Policy Address given by Mr. Donald Tsang. Paragraph 63 is about assisting new arrivals and ethnic minorities. It is the second time for ethnic minorities being mentioned in Policy Address.