Over 2,000 import workers to join private care homes

The Secretary for Labour and Welfare, Law Chi-kwong, said on Sunday that the government had approved the import of more than 2,000 workers to work at private care homes amid a staff shortage caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

The government announced on March 1 that it would ease requirements for the import of care workers under the Supplementary Labour Scheme for three months ending on May 31.

Care homes will be exempted from launching a four-week local recruitment process before deciding to import workers.

Writing on his official blog, Law said that within one month, authorities had approved 364 applications involving the import of 2,054 care workers.

He said authorities are assisting care homes with recruiting and providing their workers with intensive training to tackle a staff shortage.

“With the drop in Hong Kong’s workforce, it’s impossible to meet the increasing demand in the elderly care sector with local workers only,” he wrote.

“In the short to medium term, importing workers from the mainland or even overseas is inevitable.”

He said that in the long term, authorities would improve the environment of care homes and the career ladder for care workers to attract more people to the sector.

He also hoped people who had become temporary carers recently would stay in the sector.