Landing top talent requires housing
The special administrative region government on Wednesday introduced a new measure to draw doctoral degree holders to Hong Kong from other regions or even foreign countries with a monthly allowance of up to HK$32,000 in addition to other perks offered by local employers. The offer is part of the Technology Talent Admission Scheme, intended to attract high-caliber professionals to Hong Kong for research and development projects at locally based innovative-technology companies. It will run in parallel with the Reindustrialisation and Technology Training Programme, which will subsidize local companies to train their staff in advanced technologies. Both programs are concrete efforts by the SAR government to “reindustrialize” the city, also known as Industry 4.0, according to Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s first Policy Address, presented last year.
The word “reindustrialize” is meant to remind people that Hong Kong’s rise to economic stardom in the late 1960s through early ’70s was mainly driven by the labor-intensive manufacturing sector. However, almost all of those small and medium-sized manufacturers moved to the mainland and particularly Guangdong in the 1980s, after State leader Deng Xiaoping launched the reform and opening-up drive in 1978. Without the manufacturing industry Hong Kong turned to the financial, trading and services industries to fill the blank and became an international financial center and shipping hub in its own right. Now it is determined to add inno-tech, modern medicine and higher education industries to its economic portfolio to achieve desirable diversification, and all of them require high-caliber specialists to ensure competitiveness.
This is absolutely necessary because Hong Kong’s economy has been overly dependent on the real estate and financial services industries for too long and must be significantly diversified as soon as possible. It is safe to say those high-tech-driven industries are meant to become Hong Kong’s new growth engines, as long as they have sufficient investment and a continuous supply of world-class talents. Unfortunately, Hong Kong’s efforts to attract top minds for inno-tech development are severely hindered by very limited and ridiculously expensive residential space. That is why some observers have doubts over the effectiveness of “sweeteners” such as the monthly allowance mentioned above. Indeed HK$32,000 a month can barely cover the rent for a decent apartment in popular locations, which is a must for high-end talents from overseas.
In order to meet tech-savvy talents’ need for reasonably comfortable living spaces, the SAR government must find ways to increase land supply for residential housing development as well as for economic activities as soon as possible. That means the decision-makers need to “think outside the box”. Cliche as it may sound, people have to free their own minds first if they want to free up more land for housing and economic expansion. And don’t forget that millions of local residents have been waiting for their turn to become homeowners forever! Let no one assume a market economy can fix itself, which is a myth at best. If the property market cannot convince developers to abandon speculative behavior in the housing market, the government must intervene one way or another. It’s called responsible governance.