Budget 2022-2023: Announcement By Hong Kong SAR Government (And What Is The Initiatives That Benefit The HR Industry)

On 23rd of February, Financial Secretary, Paul Chan, has delivered his speech on Budget 2022-2023. Through his speech, it gives a clearer direction of the policies and measures that will help stimulate Hong Kong’s economy as the city battles the fifth wave of COVID-19. There are also several initiatives that will help Hong Kong’s labour market, which we have are summarised as below:

Supporting the Unemployed Through Anti-Epidemic Fund (AEF)

The sixth version of AEF measures will be introduced, following the recent injection of HKD$27 billion by the government. Among others, the measures will include supporting the temporarily unemployed in the form of a subsidy of HKD$10,000 for each eligible person. The government will also continue with its job creation scheme under the AEF and spend about HKD$6.6 billion to create 30,000 time-limited jobs.

Reduction of Salary Tax for 2021/2022

To provide support during the fifth wave, the government has announced that they will reduce the salary tax rate; the tax for personal assessment for the year of 2021-2022 is capped at HKD$10,000. The measure is expected to benefit 2.01 million taxpayers.

Enriching the Local Talents & Attracting Oversea Talents

Due to the declining birth rate and ageing population of Hong Kong, enriching the local talents and attracting oversea talents to Hong Kong will be the key priorities. Several new initiatives have been announced:

• Under the three-year Pilot Green and Sustainable Finance Capacity Building Support Scheme, subsidies will be made available for training and acquisition of relevant professional qualifications in sustainable and green finance.
• There will also be a subsidy for the training of FinTech practitioners, including a reimbursement of 80% of tuition fees for up to 1,500 individuals. In addition, Cyberport has been commissioned to provide a new round of its Financial Practitioners FinTech Training Programme.
• Schemes to attract oversea talents to join the IT and R&D sectors in Hong Kong will continue – such as the Technology Talent Admission Scheme and the Global STEM Professorship Scheme – while new measures to attract international talents into Hong Kong are under consideration.
• Considering the current situation, the government will increase its investment in providing training for medical professionals, including supporting students to enrol in post-graduate healthcare programmes.
• The government also proposes to allocate HKD$1 billion for the Construction Industry Council to support the upskilling of those who are employed within this sector, as well as attracting new entrants to this industry. There will be a major focus on attracting young people into the industry.

No Change in Civil Service's Headcount To Focus in Supporting Public Finances

The government will continue to target zero growth of headcount for the civil service as it aims to put public finances on a more sustainable footing. As a result, there will be 197,000 posts in the civil service establishment by the end of March 2023.

With the announcement of this policy, many companies will revisit into their workforce strategy and plan on leveraging on the government’s initiatives. As the leader of Workforce Solutions provider in APAC, PERSOLKELLY Hong Kong team is knowledgeable in providing HR advisory services to our clients. Contact us if you need to know how to optimise your workforce in this ever-changing environment.