ABSTRACT
During the early years of high immigration up until 1980, immigration provided an abundant supply of labour for the labour-intensive manufacturing industries in Hong Kong. The change in immigration policy in October 1980 abruptly stopped illegal immigrants and slowed down the growth of the labour force. This effect was exacerbated by a number of other factors which led to labour shortage in the late 1980s. One of these was emigration. Due to concern over the political future, emigration out of Hong Kong accelerated in the late 1980s and reached a peak in 1992. However, since 1992 emigration has slowed down substantially and return migration has increased. In this chapter we will evaluate the impact of such flows on population growth and labour supply. We will also examine the characteristics of new immigrants to assess their contribution to the labour force in relation to the native-born population. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the possibility of a more active immigration policy which supports population growth and provides skilled manpower to promote economic growth.
