Hong Kong's Business Boom Might Be A Bust For Foreigners
Friday, May 26, 2006SUSIE GHARIB: Hong Kong is one of the world`s most culturally diverse and business minded cities. Now, its government is considering a new racial discrimination law that could make it less attractive, especially for foreign businesspeople. From Hong Kong, Rob McBride reports.
ROB MCBRIDE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: It is a law generally welcomed by the business community in Hong Kong, a place where discrimination has been illegal, except when based on race.
JACK MAISANO, PRES., AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE/HONG KONG: Hong Kong already has anti-discrimination laws on sex bias, family status bias and disability bias. This simply brings us up-to-date in terms of all the other industrialized countries in the world.
McBRIDE: The law that will make racial discrimination in employment illegal finds support from both management and labor.
ELIZABETH TANG, CHMN., CHIEF EXECUTIVE, HONG KONG CONFEDERATION OF TRADE UNIONS: Our union has been advocating for such a law for a long, long time. It will be also beneficial for local workers. And then they can just compete on their talents, on their abilities, and the performance.
McBRIDE: But applying the new law to recruitment, especially among Hong Kong`s executive class has raised the specter of greater government involvement in an economy that has always prided itself on a laissez-faire approach.
DAN CHAVASSE, MANAGING DIRECTOR, MICHAEL PAGE INTERNATIONAL: If it was ever to unfold in a way which made it more difficult for companies and banks to hire in Hong Kong, then there`s no question in my mind that people will migrate their regional headquarters to Shanghai or Singapore or another jurisdiction.
McBRIDE: The consensus among recruiters here, though, is that ultimately, Hong Kong has too much to lose by imposing too many restrictions on how employers recruit. And companies will still be allowed to bring in staff if they can prove they have skills not available locally. But western executives, take note, one skill everyone is after, the ability to speak Mandarin Chinese.
CHAVASSE: A lot of people think of expats as westerners. But most expats, many expats in this part of the world are Singaporeans. They`re returning Chinese. They`re returning Malaysian people, Taiwanese. So, they`re not just simply westerners.
McBRIDE: Indeed part of the problem with any race discrimination law has been making it flexible enough to accommodate Hong Kong`s increasingly cosmopolitan nature, something that applies to all sectors here, from the corporate high-flyers to the people serving them at table.
MAISANO: For instance, if you have a Japanese restaurant, clearly you can hire Japanese to work in that restaurant. If you have a French school, clearly you need French speakers to do it. So, these all have to be written back out of the law.
McBRIDE: The American Chamber of Commerce and other business organizations report a number of overseas companies are expanding or opening new offices in Hong Kong, all adding extra demand for workers from here or abroad. Rob McBride, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Hong Kong.
