Labor Segmentation and Dualisation in Hong Kong

Abstract

With a strong adherence to liberalism, the labor market in Hong Kong is character-ized by a low level of external regulation and an emphasis on self-adaptation as coping. The government mainly attend to the quality of manpower supplied meet-ing the market need, as well as peaceful industrial relations. Segmentation of labor is a natural result of this lowly regulated liberal market. Benefited from a relatively stable economy, unemployment in the past two decades mainly contained, but dualisation observed with widening income gap, as well as an emerging sector of insecure labor. The recent COVID-19 pandemic is leading to a sudden and unex-pected economic crisis. Though with more ad hoc measures, cautious in regulating the labor market maintained. While we are waiting for further government initia-tives, the ending of the employment subsidy from December will certainly worsen the situation. Further dualisation will be the result.